Wednesday Rewind: 5 Big Things from Tuesday Night

<p><em><strong>Megan Woods of Grand Island Central Catholic (16) looks across the net during a match against Superior earlier this season. Wood had 31 kills as GICC held off an upset bid from Blue Hill Tuesday night. (Photo by Berk Brown)</strong></em></p> <p>This fall, we will spend Wednesdays taking a look back at some of the most important happenings from the night before in high school volleyball.</p> <p>Here are five big takeaways from Tuesday, Aug. 28.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#1 - Kearney gets first win over Grand Island Northwest in more than 20 years</strong></span></p> <p>According to <strong>Marc Zvala</strong> of the Grand Island Independent, it is believed that Tuesday night's 24-26, 25-19, 25-18, 11-25, 15-6 win over by Kearney of Grand Island Northwest was the first for the Bearcats over the Vikings since 1996.</p> <p>“It’s been a long time and I’m one proud coach. The girls just went out from point zero to 15 in the fifth set there,” Kearney coach <strong>Jessica Day</strong> told the Grand Island Independent. “They played to win and didn’t play to lose. The kids battled adversity and had our backs against the wall so many times during the match.”</p> <p>The win improved Class A Kearney to 4-2 on the season while it dropped Class B Northwest to 1-2. Neither team is ranked.</p> <p><strong>Claire Vanderbeek</strong> had 11 kills and five total blocks for the Bearcats and <strong>Ashton Mehlin</strong> had 11 kills and 13 digs. <strong>Adison Wood</strong> had a team-high 43 digs for Kearney and <strong>Alexis Mishou</strong> had 42 assists. <strong>Whitney Brown</strong> had 25 assists, 20 digs and seven kills for Northwest while <strong>Whitney Jensen</strong> had 14 kills and 13 total blocks and <strong>Shalee Bradley</strong> finished with 12 kills. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#2 - Papillion-LaVista South comes all the way back to down Millard West in five sets</strong></span></p> <p>There were a handful of thrilling five-set matches last night, but Papillion-LaVista South was the only one to rally from a 0-2 deficit to win the match. </p> <p>Going the distance seems to be normal for the Titans already this year, considering Papillion-LaVista South played a full three sets in four of its six matches at the Bellevue West Invitational last weekend. The difference being that the Titans went 1-3 in those tournament matches but came up victorious against Millard West, which was playing in its first match of the year.</p> <p>Papillion-LaVista South - ranked #5 in Class A - improved to 4-3 with the win while #3-ranked Millard West fell to 0-1. </p> <p>Freshman <strong>Ava LeGrand</strong> had a double-double with 20 kills and 21 digs for the Titans while <strong>Sophie Hendrix</strong> added 12 kills and 22 digs as the Titan outside hitters took a combined 136 of the team's 222 swings (61.2%). <strong>Anna Gregerson</strong> added seven total blocks, <strong>Leah Palensky</strong> had 35 digs and <strong>Mara LeGrand</strong> finished with 46 assists.</p> <p>For Millard West, sophomore <strong>Elise Gilroy</strong> finished with 16 kills, two aces and 35 digs while <strong>Hailey Petersen</strong> had 11 kills and <strong>Cameron Young</strong> had nine. <strong>Jaiden Centeno</strong> had 41 digs and <strong>Bree Green</strong> had 39 assists. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#3 - Young Lexington squad opens season with victory over Holdrege</strong></span></p> <p>Loyal Prep Dig readers know that there is a lot of young talent coming into Lexington starting this year and it showed in the opening match of the season as it took a 25-17, 25-21, 22-25, 25-14 win over Holdrege in the opening match of the season for both unranked teams. </p> <p><strong>Liah Haines</strong>, an eighth-grader, had 35 assists and five digs for Lexington while freshman <strong>Cordelia Harbison</strong> had 22 kills and just three errors on 44 swings (.432 hitting percentage) with 10 ace serves and 12 digs for the Minutemen. Senior <strong>Jennifer Nava</strong> added seven kills for Lexington.</p> <p>For Holdrege, <strong>Addy Johnson</strong> and <strong>Anna Grace Week</strong> each had seven kills for the Dusters while <strong>Jenna Karn</strong> had 16 digs and <strong>Alexa Berny</strong> had 30 assists.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#4 - Grand Island Central Catholic holds off major upset bid from Blue Hill</strong></span></p> <p>Blue Hill came into Tuesday night's match at 4-0 and ranked #6 in Class C-2, so it's not like the Bobcats came out of nowhere against the #4-ranked team in Class C-1. But, wow, did Blue Hill almost pull of a big upset before the Crusaders held on for a 25-21, 22-25, 25-27, 25-20, 15-10 win.</p> <p>Omaha recruit <strong>Megan Woods</strong> did most of the damage for Grand Island CC with 31 kills with a .321 hitting percentage to go with four aces and 21 digs. <strong>Avery Kaldova</strong> hit .562 on the night and had 20 kills. <strong>Allison Kalvoda</strong> added seven kills while <strong>Katie Maser</strong> had 57 assists and 23 dig and <strong>Jenna Lowry</strong> had 25 digs.</p> <p>For Blue Hill, tiny 5'4 <strong>Kacey Allen</strong> had a big night at the net with 22 kills on .221 hitting and also had 20 digs. <strong>Rylee Kohmetscher</strong> added 13 kills and <strong>Emily Meyer</strong> had six. <strong>Brianna Danehey</strong> finished the match with 32 digs for the Bobcats and <strong>Jaime Bonifas</strong> had 49 assists. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#5 - Iowa teams knock off three-time champions Skutt Catholic and Johnson-Brock</strong></span></p> <p>It was a rough night for both of Nebraska's three-time defending state champions as both Skutt Catholic and Johnson-Brock were swept in three sets by opponents from Iowa.</p> <p>Ankeny Centennial, the No. 1 team in Iowa's Class 5A, took a 25-22, 25-23, 25-15 win over Class B #1 Skutt Catholic. The Skyhawks, now 5-2, led the first set 10-3 but the Jaguars were able to rally to take the opening stanza and then when the second set was tied at 23-23, Centennial's <strong>Riley Morgan</strong> got a setter dump to fall and <strong>Ari Winters</strong> - sister of Creighton's <strong>Jaali Winters</strong> - got the set-winning kill. When the third set was tied 9-9, the Jaguars closed out the match on a 16-6 run. </p> <p>“We wanted a good competitive match, and we were happy to have that,” Ankeny Centennial coach <strong>Jessica Rinehart</strong> told AnkenyFantatic.com. “Getting a ‘W’, and actually coming from behind in that first game to get the ‘W’, I thought that was a big moment for us that will carry us well through the rest of the season.”</p> <p>Skutt Catholic is still without all-stater <strong>Lindsay Krause</strong> who is playing for the USA Volleyball youth national team in the 2018 NORCECA Girls’ U18 Continental Championship in Honduras. However, Ankeny Centennial was also without a player - Wisconsin middle recruit <strong>Devyn Robinson</strong> - who is playing on the same squad as Krause in Honduras. </p> <p>Skutt's loss to Ankeny Centennial is believed to be the first time the Skyhawks have been swept in a best-of-5 match since the 2012 district finals against Gretna.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Johnson-Brock took a 25-14, 25-11, 25-16 loss to Sidney, Iowa, which is ranked #6 in Iowa's Class 2A. The Eagles, ranked #1 in Class D-1, got 11 kills from <strong>Fallon Stutheit</strong> while Mattie Nichols had three kills and 13 digs, <strong>Jadyn Hahn</strong> had three kills and three ace serves and <strong>Hailey Sandfort</strong> has 12 assists.</p> <p>It's the first time Johnson-Brock has been swept in a best-of-5 match since losing 3-0 to Diller-Odell in the 2015 subdistrict finals. </p>