Skutt Survives Scare From St. James Academy to Win Michelle Smith Classic

OVERLAND PARK, (KS)  - St. James Academy had four chances to do something to Omaha Skutt which no team has done in over a year during the championship match of the Michelle Smith Catholic Classic on Saturday. Ultimately, though, Skutt did to the Thunder what it has done to its previous 46 opponents - beat them.

Skutt, 31-0 on the season and ranked #6 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com, fought off four match points in thrilling fashion before taking a 25-20, 18-25, 29-27 victory over St. James. The win was Skutt's 47th in a row overall and its most difficult of that stretch.

"They had their backs against the wall. They had a choice in how they wanted to react. They could embrace it and go with it or could crumble and let the other team win," Skutt coach Renee Saunders said of her team. "We weren't going to go down without a fight, that's just not an option.

"This tournament helped us grow, playing five matches and playing (St. James), they are a great team. The rest of the teams we played were very good teams and athletic. We were challenged in this tournament and any time you can get challenged that's a good thing."

After splitting the first two sets, Skutt and St. James went back-and-forth in the third set and were tied at 19-19. St. James, however, went on a 5-2 run to take a 24-21 lead on a kill by 6-foot-1 middle Chris Herron. Skutt fought off the first match point when freshman Megan Skovsende's attack got dug up by St. James, but rattled around on a raised basketball hoop and fell to the ground. A St. James hitting error let the Sky Hawks survive a second match point before the Thunder called a time out.

After the timeout, Skutt evened the score at 24-24 with a combination block from Alli Schomers and McKenna Kirkpatrick. St. James, however, answered with a kill from Lauren Niesen to get its fourth match point at 25-24. Kirkpatrick's cross-court kill on a slide tied it at 25-25 for the Sky Hawks and another Schomers and Kirkpatrick block gave Skutt its first match point at 26-25. Allison Coens' roll shot from the back row found the floor for St. James to tie it at 26-26 and Coen had another kill on Skutt's second match point that tied it at 27-27.

Lily Heyne, who led Skutt with 13 kills in the championship match, got her final one from the outside to put Skutt up 28-27 and then a stuff block from Sydney McDermott gave the Sky Hawks the 29-27 win in the third set and the tournament championship.

Skutt played its final pool play match of the day and both tournament matches with senior Kansas State recruit Brooke Heyne playing back row only. Perhaps the state's best outside hitter was having discomfort in her shoulder after putting down 29 kills combined in Skutt's first two matches, so Saunders limited her to just back row play and adjusted her lineup.

"In my opinion, her health is more important than a win. We have the tools that we can move people around and be OK. Her health is more important to me than having her go up and bang the ball," Saunders said. "If she's uncomfortable, then we will wait until she's comfortable. We're going to need her a lot more later on this season. Don't get me wrong, I want to win every game, but to be able to do it without her swinging just helps everyone else."

The win over St. James in the championship match was actually the second close call the Sky Hawks had on the day against the Thunder. In its first pool play match of the day, Skutt had to rally back to take a 20-25, 26-24, 25-22 win over the Thunder. In its other two pool play matches, Skutt defeated Bishop Carrolll 25-18, 25-13 and St. Dominic 25-17, 25-21. In the championship semifinals, Skutt cruised to a 25-17, 25-15 win over Villa Duchesne.

St. James made it back to the championship after it upset St. Thomas Aquinas in straight sets in the semifinals. St. Thomas Aquinas is ranked #1 in Kansas Class 5A - its second largest class.

Omaha Skutt def. St. James Academy 25-20, 18-25, 29-27

Omaha Skutt (31-0)
Kills/Aces/Blocks

Jessica Schlautman 0-1-0; Brooke Heyne 1-0-0; Lily Heyne 13-1-0; Megan Skovsende 7-0-0; Nikki White 0-1-0; Alli Schomers 2-2-2; Sydney McDermott 3-0-2; McKenna Kirkpatrick 8-0-5; Taylor O'Malley 1-1-0; Brooklyn Duren 2-0-1; Megan Sutera 0-0-0.

Digs: Skutt 53 (Schlautman 16, Brooke Heyne 10, Skovsende 6, Schomers 5, Lily Heyne 4, Shite 4, Kirkpatrick 4, O'Malley 4). Assists: Skutt 35 (Schomers 34, Schlautman 1).