Championship Saturday Recap of 2015 State Tournament
LINCOLN – Saturday’s six state-championship matches at the Bob Devaney Sports Center provided upsets, high-stakes drama and the continued success of two of the state’s top high school volleyball programs.
Omaha Marian won its third straight Class A title with a 3-0 win over North Platte, while Omaha Skutt won its first volleyball title with a 3-0 win over Gretna in the Class B final. In Class C-1, Kearney Catholic – making its sixth-straight state championship match appearance – took home its fourth-consecutive C-1 championship with a heart-pounding 3-2 win over Ord. In Class C-2, Hastings St. Cecilia completed its run from a fourth-seeded subdistrict team to state champion with a 3-0 victory over Stanton. Johnson-Brock defeated Diller-Odell 3-0 in the fifth meeting of the year between the two teams in the Class D-1 championship while in Class D-2, Exeter-Milligan denied O’Neill St. Mary’s its third-straight state title with a 3-2 victory.
Here is a recap of each of the championship matches.
Class A
Omaha Marian (41-3) def. North Platte (37-4) 26-24,25-16,25-20
Omaha Marian finished its season by winning its 37th match in a row to claim its third-straight Class A championship with a sweep of North Platte in the Class A final.
Elizabeth Loschen, a huge contributor to all three state titles for Marian, led the Crusaders with 13 kills while hitting .440 for the match. Elise Duryea hit .529 on the night and had nine kills while Sophia Terwilleger also had nine kills and eight digs. Marian McGuire finished the match with 42 assists and Brittany Witt led the team with 14 digs.
For North Platte, Olivia Nicholson had a match-high 15 kills and Allison Kuenle had 10. Alex Neff dished out 36 assists and Morgan Raska had a team-high 10 digs. The match completed the best season for the Bulldogs since 1980, also marking North Platte’s first appearance in a state-championship match since winning it all 35 years ago.
Class B
Omaha Skutt (40-2) def. Gretna (35-3) 25-23,29-27,25-18
One year after being denied its first volleyball state title in school history, Omaha Skutt simply refused to have it happen again, pulling out tight wins in each of the first two sets on its way to a 3-0 win over Gretna in the Class B championship.
Alyssa Woodman led the Skyhawks with 21 kills and also added 18 digs while Brooke Heyne finished with 19 kills and 19 digs. Allison Schomer finished with 47 assists and 15 digs while Brooke Swain added 13 digs as well.
For Gretna, Halie McArdle finished her standout high school career with 27 kills and 16 digs and Mallory Yost finished the match with eight kills. Cameron Scott had 42 assists and 16 digs while Jaisa Russell had four kills and 16 digs and libero Amanda Young had two assists and 12 digs.
Class C-1
Kearney Catholic (34-2) def. Ord (31-4) 25-20,30-28,21-25 23-25, 15-12
Ord forced Kearney Catholic to fight to the bitter end to claim its fourth-straight Class C-1 title in an epic battle between two teams that had split two earlier meetings this before as the Stars held on for a 3-2 win.
Kylie Thiele had 24 kills and 19 digs to lead the Stars while Madison Squires had 13 kills and 31 assists and Anna Squires had eight kills, seven blocks and 29 assists. Courtney Shundoff added 17 kills while Michelle Messbarger had a a team-high 21 digs.
For Ord, senior setter Morgan Alexander broke the Class C-1 all-time record for assists in a match with 68 – which is tied for the second most in any high school match in Nebraska high school history. She also finished with 23 digs. Allison Welniak had 20 kills and 17 digs while Andrea Carson had 16 kills and 14 digs. Danielle Bruha had 17 kills in the match and Jordan Kluck 21 digs.
Class C-2
Hastings St. Cecilia (25-11) def. Stanton (33-4) 25-13,25-21,25-13
Hastings St. Cecilia completed its improbable run from a 4-seed in the subdistrict tournament to a state champion with its sweep of Stanton. It’s the fifth-straight year St. Cecilia has finished its season playing on the final day of the year after winning it all in 2013 and taking third place in 2011, 2012 and 2014. For Stanton, the Mustangs reached the state championship match in their first ever appearance at the state tournament.
Lucy Skoch led St. Cecilia with 16 kills and 2 1/2 blocks while Lil Sheehy had 12 kills and nine digs and Shanda Farmer finished the match with 16 digs. Brittany Mangers had 26 assists and seven digs. Stanton was led by seven kills apiece from Jessie Brandl and Hiliary Huss. Huss also finished with a team-high 13 assists and MacKenzie Brandl had 17 digs.
Class D-1
Johnson-Brock (25-9) def. Diller-Odell (31-5) 26-24,25-11,27-25
Johnson-Brock and Diller-Odell got together for the fifth time this season to determine the Class D-1 champion with the Eagles getting its first state title since 1993 with a 3-0 win over the Griffins.
Freshman Fallon Stutheit hit .393 in the biggest match of her life to finish with 13 kills and added 2 1/2 blocks and seven digs while teammate Emerson Carbajal added 10 kills and Kaitlynn Simon had nine kills to go with 18 digs. Setter Brynn Westenburg had three kills, 30 assists and 12 digs in the match.
Madison Jurgens led Diller-Odell with 13 kills and 15 digs and also finished with 10 assists in helping the Griffins to their best finish in school history at the state tournament. Bailey Schroeder added 13 assists and six digs while Madison Hajek had five kills and 11 digs and Kaitlyn Schultis finished with four kills and 14 digs.
Class D-2
Exeter-Milligan (27-4) def. O’Neill St. Mary’s (31-3) 17-25,25-22,25-18 23-25, 15-9
Exeter-Milligan won its fourth state title since 2009 while also stopping St. Mary’s from winning its third straight championship in a 3-2 victory in the Class D-2 championship.
Hailey Luzum had 25 kills and 16 digs in the championship match while Marissa Howard had 16 kills and 16 digs and Hannah Beethe finished with 11 kills and 13 digs. Sydney Hall led the Timberwolves with 46 assists.
St. Mary’s, which had the past two Class D-1 titles, was led by Sydney Hupp’s 21 kills and a 15 kill, 10 dig performance from Riley Sibbel. Taylor Coleman had 46 assists for the Cardinals and Breanna Hedstrom had a match-high 19 digs.