Battle Creek beats Syracuse in C-1 Super Saturday Action
Centennial High School, Utica, NE – #8 seeded Battle Creek (28-5), proving to be on a mission since starting their quest to state in sub-districts by avenging earlier season losses to Norfolk Catholic and Wayne, continued their season with a…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingCentennial High School, Utica, NE – #8 seeded Battle Creek (28-5), proving to be on a mission since starting their quest to state in sub-districts by avenging earlier season losses to Norfolk Catholic and Wayne, continued their season with a win over #9 seeded Syracuse (23-4) in the C1-8 district final 3-1; 25-12, 21-25, 25-20, 25-22.
Battle Creek Tria McLean hits against the Syracuse block of Halle Wilhelm and Lindsey MossAs both teams were trying to make it back to state consecutive years, Battle Creek in class C2 last season, Battle Creek jumped out to a quick lead in set one and kept the momentum going with a 25-12 win. Syracuse faced woes in the serve pass game and had a hard time containing Ohio University recruit senior Tria McLean. She proved her worth in the back row as a setter and in the front row hitting from numerous spots with many different shots keeping Syracuse unable to run their offense consistently.
Syracuse turned the tide to win set two with better passing to aid connections between junior setter Halle Wilhelm (43 assists, 2 blocks) and junior hitter Jessica Moss (24 kills, hitting .309, 5 blocks, 12 digs). Moss found her rhythm hitting a variety of spots over and around the Battle Creek block.
Again, Battle Creek started strong in set 3 and never trailed. Their crisp play and strong serving stymied Syracuse.
The fight to keep the serve in set 4 kept the score close. Battle Creek won the long rallies and prevailed.
Credit is due to the Battle Creek serve receive and defense led by sophomore libero Paytyn Taake. Many balls thought to be down were dug and kept in play that resulted in points for the Bravettes. Net play by McLean, junior Brianna Zohner, and senior Riley Seifert kept the momentum on the Battle Creek side throughout the match. Battle Creek is coached by Cody Wintz.
Syracuse Jessica Moss looks for the tip against Battle CreekFor Syracuse, in addition to Jessica Moss, sophomore Lily Vollertsen (9 kills) and senior South Dakota University track recruit Lauren Meyer (15 kills, 13 digs) helped pace the Rockets at the net. Setter Halle Wilhelm‘s block also aided a nice front for the Rockets. Sophomore Lindsey Moss led the defense with 17 digs. The Rockets had 10 service errors for the game at a season low 87.5%. The Rockets are coached by Courtney VanGroningen.
#8 seed Battle Creek advances to the Nebraska Class C-1 State Tournament Thursday, November 7, at Lincoln North Star High School and will take on #1 seed St. Paul (33-0) at 1:30 p.m.
Wayne (29-5) and Norfolk Catholic (23-6), in district finals by way of wild cards, also punched their ticket to the state tournament with wins over Chase County and Southern Valley, respectively. #4 seed Wayne will play #5 seed Broken Bow (32-2) at 3:30. #7 Seed Norfolk Catholic versus #2 seed Wahoo (28-3) at 5:30.
#3 seed Lincoln Lutheran (34-3) plays #6 Chadron (31-7) in the final game of the evening at 7:30.
Class C-1 will be held at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday at 1:00 and 3:00. The Nebraska State Volleyball Class C-1 Championship will air live from the Bob Devaney Sports Arena on NET Saturday at 3:00.