Here is the post-match interview with Bellevue West coach Christina Reicks:
BELLEVUE – When Bellevue West arrived in Lincoln on Saturday, Sept. 19, for the second day of the Lincoln Public Schools Classic, the Thunderbirds were 3-10 and facing a crossroads in its season.
Since that day, however, Bellevue West has been one of the hottest teams in Class A and it stayed that way Tuesday night as the Thunderbirds won their fifth straight match with a 25-20, 25-14, 25-14 sweep of Millard South. The victory improved Bellevue West, ranked #9 in Class A, to 8-10 on the season.
Bellevue West closed out the LPC Classic with wins over Columbus, Lincoln Southeast and Lincoln Northeast and also added a win last week over Omaha Central.
In the win over Millard South, Bellevue West only trailed once – at 3-2 in the second set – the entire match against the Patriots. The loss dropped Millard South to 4-13 on the season.
Bellevue West built a lead of 13-6 in the first set but saw the Patriots slowly chip away at the lead and an ace serve by Millard South’s Jaisee Stinson tied the set at 16-16. A Millard South hitting error and kill by Bellevue West’s Hannah Dubas started a 7-2 run by the Thunderbirds that but them up 23-18. A couple Bellevue West errors made it interesting and got the Patriots within 23-20, but a Callie Stenger kill and hitting error on Millard South ended it for Bellevue West.
Millard South took its only lead of the match at 3-2 in the second set on an ace serve from freshman libero Jordan Harre, but Bellevue West then scored eight of the next nine points behind a pair of kills from Dubas as well as Morgan James and cruised the rest of the way in the second set.
Bellevue West wasted little time seizing control of the third set, opening up a 14-2 lead on an ace serve from James and the Patriots never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Dubas led the Bellevue West attack with 12 kills while James and Stenger each had seven. Emma Larson dished out 30 assists and had three kills as well for the Thunderbirds, which also got outstanding defense from its libero Natalie Sjostedt.
Madi Stearns and Paxton Throne each had six kills for the Patriots.
Bellevue West def. Millard South 25-20, 25-14, 25-14
Millard South (4-13)
Jaisee Stinson – 3 kills, 0 blocks, 3 assists, 1 ace.
Paxton Throne – 6 kills, 0 blocks, 7 assists, 1 ace.
Claire Larson – 2 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 0 aces.
Shaylie Brown – 0 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 1 ace.
Allie Kerns – 2 kills, 0 blocks, 1 assist, 0 aces.
Kelsey Olson – 0 kills, 1 block, 0 assists, 0 aces.
Madi Stearns – 6 kills, 2 blocks, 1 assist, 1 ace.
Jordan Harre – 0 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 1 ace.
Team totals – 19 kills, 3 blocks, 12 assists, 5 aces.
Bellevue West (8-10) Ranked #9 in Class A
Courtney Morehead – 3 kills, 0 blocks, 1 assist, 1 ace.
Markell Riley – 3 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 0 aces.
Abby Hansen – 2 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 0 aces.
Emma Larson – 3 kills, 0 blocks, 30 assists, 0 aces.
Natalie Sjostedt – 0 kills, 0 blocks, 1 assist, 2 aces.
Veronica Hill – 0 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 0 aces.
Hannah Dubas – 12 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 0 aces.
Callie Stenger – 7 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 0 aces.
Morgan James – 7 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 3 aces.
Elyse Splichal – 0 kills, 0 blocks, 0 assists, 3 aces.
Team totals – 37 kills, 0 blocks, 32 assists, 9 aces.
