Millard North Rolls On With Sweeps of Pius X, Lincoln Southwest

<p>LINCOLN - So much for any potential hangover from winning the Bellevue West Invitational over the weekend. </p> <p>Millard North improved to 8-0 on Tuesday night with convincing sweeps of #1 Lincoln Pius X (26-24, 25-21) and #7 Lincoln Southwest (25-20, 25-17) in a triangular at Pius X. In the final match of the night, Pius X defeated Southwest 25-19, 22-25, 25-21.</p> <p>Millard North entered the night ranked #2, but clearly showed it belong at the top of the Class A rankings with its sweep of Pius X on the Thunderbolts' home court. The Mustangs took charge early in the first set as the Thunderbolts struggled with seven early errors that helped Millard North build a 14-7 lead. Eventually, however, Pius X fought back and was able to get the score tied at 23 an an ace serve from <strong>Emma Gabel</strong> and then had a set point when <strong>Delaney Humm</strong>'s kill made it 24-23 Bolts. </p> <p>Pius X couldn't capitalize, however, as a tough pass pinned Bolts' setter <strong>Gracie Gokie</strong> against the net, leading her to get called for a back row attack when she tipped the ball into the Millard North block while trying to dig it out of the net to tie it at 24. <strong>McKenna Ruch</strong> followed with a block for the Mustangs and <strong>Emmy Grant</strong> followed by tooling the Pius X block for the set-winner.</p> <p>Millard North scored the first four points of the second set and never trailed on its way to the sweep. Ruch finished with seven kills and two blocks for the Mustangs and <strong>Allie Kerns</strong> had six kills and <strong>Izzy Lukens</strong> finished with 19 assists and three kills. </p> <p><strong>Anna McLain</strong> led the Bolts with nine kills and she also had two blocks while<strong> Lauren Taubenheim</strong> and Humm each had six kills and Gokie finished with 25 assists.</p> <p>Lincoln Southwest, 1-2 on the year, started strong against Millard North and held an early 9-6 lead in the first set on a kill by <strong>Corinne Boyd</strong>, but the Mustangs then went on a 9-2 run to take a 15-11 lead on a Silverhawk service error. From that point forward Southwest wouldn't get within three points of the Mustangs in the first set. Like it did against Pius X, Millard North scored the first four points of the second set against Southwest and never trailed on its way to winning the set 25-17.</p> <p>Kerns and Ruch each had five kills for the Mustangs against Southwest while Lukens had 20 assists and an ace and Grant finished with four kills and two blocks. For Southwest, <strong>Jaden Ferguson</strong> had 11 kills and a block and <strong>Paige Silverberg</strong> had 20 assists and a block.</p> <p>In the nightcap, Humm led the Bolts with 12 kills and Taubenheim had 11. <strong>Alexis Markowski</strong> had eight blocks and Gokie finished with 27 assists. </p>