Championship Saturday Updates: Five Teams Repeat as State Champs
LINCOLN – A record five teams repeated as state champions on Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in the finals of the 2014 NSAA Volleyball Championships.
Omaha Marian defeated Papillion-LaVista 3-1 in the Class A final while Norris repeated in Class B with a 3-1 win over Omaha Skutt. In Class C-1, Kearney Catholic actually made it three straight state titles with a 3-0 sweep of Omaha Concordia. Freeman – which finished second in Class C-2 a year ago, was the only new champion this year, holding off Crofton 3-1. In Class D-1, O’Neill St. Mary’s repeated as champions with a 3-0 win over Ansley-Litchfield and Giltner knocked off Stuart 3-2 to win its second-straight Class D-2 title.
Class A
After coming up short in five previous attempts to defeat Papillion-LaVista, Omaha Marian made the sixth time count as the Crusaders defeated the previously undefeated Monarchs 25-19, 16-25, 25-20, 25-15.
After the two teams split the first two sets, it was Marian which came out on fire and took a commanding lead in the third set before holding on a 25-20 win in the third set. The Crusaders then carried that momentum over into the fourth and final set to claim its second-straight Class A title.
Junior Elizabeth Loschen led Marian in the match with 12 kills and added three blocks while senior middle Kelsey O’Connell had 10 kills and five blocks. Maren McGuire dished out 45 assists and had 12 digs while Brittany Witt had a team-high 20 digs.
For Papillion-LaVista, senior middle Priscilla O’Dowd had 14 kills and 7 blocks. Katie Stephens added eight kills and freshman Sydney Fitzgibbons had seven kills and three blocks for the Monarchs.
Click here for the complete Class A box score from Saturday
Class B
Norris seniors Maddy Bruder and Kylie Hohlen continued their dominating performance at the state tournament for Norris by combining for 45 kills in leading the Titans to a 25-23, 24-26, 25-16, 25-22 win over Omaha Skutt for the Class B title.
Bruder had 25 kills for the Titans and 12 digs while Hohlen added 20 kills and 13 digs. Allysa Catt added two kills and seven blocks. Jordan Clauss had 23 digs on the night for Norris and Payton Ruhl added 50 assists, 11 digs and four blocks.
Omaha Skutt was led by 11 kills and 14 digs from Alyssa Woodman while Claire Knust had seven kills and three blocks and McKenna Kirkpatrick had eight kills and three blocks.
Click here for the complete Class B box score from Saturday
Class C-1
Kearney Catholic used a tremendous defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack to wins its third straight Class C-1 title with a 25-22, 25-17, 26-24 win over Omaha Concordia in the Class C-1 title match.
Kylie Thiele led the Stars with 15 kills on the day and Callie Opbroek and Anna Squires each added seven while Madison Squires had five kills and three blocks.
Concordia was led by Ohio State recruit Megan Wickey with 15 kills while Averey Yaksich had eight kills and 12 digs for the Crusaders. Jenna Spellerberg finished the match with 33 assists and Tori Jones had 18 digs.
Click here for the complete Class C-1 box score from Saturday
Class C-2
It what could only be described as a back-and-forth slugfest of epic proportions, 33-0 Freeman defeated previously unbeaten Crofton 25-23, 22-25, 34-32, 27-25 for the Class C-2 title. The third set was the longest set in NSAA state finals history.
Ohio recruit Carley Remmers had 29 kills, six blocks and 12 digs for the Falcons while Marissa Haynes had 12 kills and Emily Lenners added five kills and two blocks. Riley Dorn had 47 assists for the Falcons.
Maria Wortmann, a Wayne State recruit, had 26 kills and three blocks in the match for the Warriors while Allison Arens added 14 kills and two blocks.
Click here for the complete Class C-2 box score from Saturday
Class D-1
O’Neill extended its winning streak to 55 matches in a row and won its second straight Class D-1 title with a 25-16, 25-22, 25-15 victory over Ansley-Litchfield.
Sydney Hupp led St. Mary’s with 13 kills and five blocks while Bridget Schneider had 42 assists and eight digs and Mackenzie Wecker finished with 21 digs.
Lindsy Siegel had a team-high 8 kills for Ansley-Litchfield.
Click here for the complete Class D-1 box score from Saturday
Class D-2
Giltner won its second straight Class D-2 state championship Saturday morning, taking a 25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 15-10 win over Stuart.
After the Hornets had taken the first two sets, Stuart came battling back to take the third and fourth sets to send the day’s first match into the fifth set.
The teams battled closely in the third set before Giltner took a 9-8 lead on a kill by Baily Craig. A Giltner service error tied it at 9-9, but Stuart gave the point right back with a service error of its own to give the Hornets a 10-9 advantage. Chainey Tompkin then made it 11-9 with an ace block.
Another Giltner service error made it 11-10, but Stuart again gave the point right back with a service error of its own and another Tompkin block made it 13-10 Giltner. A hitting error and net violation on Stuart gave the Hornets their second straight Class D-2 title.
Baily Craig had 19 kills and 2 blocks for Giltner while Tompkins had 16 kills and 8 blocks. Jaclyn Happold finished with 40 assists for the Hornets. Courtni Kunz led Stuart with 14 kills.