Nebraska State Volleyball, Class C-1: Lincoln Lutheran prevails on a game of runs

CLASS C1 Championship #1 seed St. Paul (35-1) Vs #3 seed Lincoln Lutheran (37-3) Time out, run, time out, run, a common theme in the Class C-1 final with #1 seed St. Paul (35-1) Vs #3 seed Lincoln Lutheran (37-3). With an undefeated season on the line, St. Paul fought back numerous times to make Lincoln Lutheran work hard for their 3-1 win, 25-27, 25-20, 30-28, 25-19. As expected, Lincoln Lutheran’s senior Marriah Buss went out in style. Her resume includes 2018 Super State Captain and 2018 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year. Very well deserved awards, with many more accolades due this season. On 72 swings, the senior had 26 kills, hitting numerous different shots all over the court. In the back row, Buss notched 16 digs and 2 ace serves. Buss, a Wichita State commit, will graduate at semester to head to training camp with the Shockers this spring. But, of course it takes a village to make a great volleyball player. Lincoln Lutheran had to replace 5 seniors from the 2018 C-1 Runner Up team, and did so effectively. They implemented a 6-2 system with senior Paige Trutna and sophomore Ashlyn DeBoer setting. Senior Lexie Kreizel, a Concordia recruit, switched to libero. Sophomore Molli Martin, senior Samantha Scholz, junior Abigail Wohlgemuth, and freshman Abby Wachal made up the front row attack and sophomores Reagan Holle and Hannah Kile defended in the back. St. Paul, on the other hand, returned numerous players from their 3rd place 2018 squad and only lose two seniors following this season. Lead by junior all around player Josie Jakubowski (19 kills, 12 digs) and senior Brooke Poppert (8 kills) all season in the front row, younger sister freshman Jenna Jakubowski stepped it up in the finals with 11 kills. Another younger sister, sophomore Olivia Poppert (43 assists, 11 digs) set for the Wildcats, but impressed in the front row with 6 kills at a .667 efficiency. In set one, Lincoln Lutheran won the battle to 10, 15, 20, and even 25, with the largest lead 21-14. But the Wildcats went on two 3-0 runs with kills from junior Teagan Hansel and Jenna Jakubowski in the stretch to eventually tie the game at 23. After trading points, Josie Jakubowski finished the game with a kill to give the Wildcats a first set win, 27-25. Set two, much the same with Lutheran jumping to a 21-14 lead again, and the Wildcats working on a comeback with setter Brooke Poppert’s front row threat and three kills and two kills from Josie Jakubowski. But it wasn’t enough to thwart the Warriors this time and Lutheran took the set 25-20. In set three, Lutheran’s greatest lead at 14-9, was overshadowed when St. Paul went on a 4-0 run. The teams remained close throughout the match with score ties at 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28. Lutheran closed out the match on a Buss kill and Wildcat hitting error, 30-28. The back and forth banter continued in set 4 until Lutheran pulled ahead at 20-19 with two ace serves by Paige Trutna, kills by Abigail Wohlgemuth and Abby Wachal, and a block by Wohlgemuth to finish the set 25-19 and end the match. Lincoln Lutheran coached by Sue Ziegler, won their 2nd state championship in school history. Mariah Buss finished her career in dominating force with many school and state records and a core group of players surrounding her. St. Paul coached by Matt Koehn-Fairbanks, last years’ third place team, moved up to runner-up this year with a good nucleus of players returning in 2020. CLASS C1 3rd Place Match #2 seed Wahoo (30-4) Vs #5 seed Broken Bow (33-4) Wahoo over Broken Bow, 25-21, 16-25, 25-18, 25-16 Kills <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> Thursday </td> <td> Friday </td> <td> Saturday </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 24 Majesta Valasek, BB </td> <td> Championship </td> <td> Championship </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 23 Mya Larson, Wahoo </td> <td> 19 Marriah Buss, LL </td> <td> 26 Marriah Buss, LL </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 20 Marriah Buss, LL </td> <td> 17 Brooke Poppert, St. Paul </td> <td> 19 Josie Jakubowski, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 12 Josie Jakubowski, St. Paul </td> <td> 16 Josie Jakubowski, St. Paul </td> <td> 11 Jenna Jakubowski, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 12 Kelsie Sears, Wahoo </td> <td> 3rd Place Match </td> <td> 10 Teegan Hansel, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 11 Kya Scott, BB </td> <td> 19 Mya Larson, Wahoo </td> <td> 9 Abigail Wohlgemuth, LL </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 11 Lindsay Schauda, BB </td> <td> 16 Majesta Valasek, BB </td> <td> 8 Brooke Poppert, St. Paul </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   Blocks <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> Thursday </td> <td> Friday </td> <td> Saturday </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 3 Marriah Buss, LL </td> <td> Championship </td> <td> Championship </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 3 Raegan Holle, LL </td> <td> 5 Molli Martin, LL </td> <td> 5 Teegan Hansel, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 3 Noel Roan, St. Paul </td> <td> 3rd Place Match </td> <td> 5 Molli Martin, LL </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 3 Kailyn Scott, BB </td> <td> 2 Kya Scott, BB </td> <td> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   Digs <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> Thursday </td> <td> Friday </td> <td> Saturday </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 30 Kya Scott, BB </td> <td> Championship </td> <td> Championship </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 23 Majesta Valasek, BB </td> <td> 18 Paige Lukasiewicz, St. Paul </td> <td> 25 Lexie Kreizel, LL </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 22 Mya Larson, Wahoo </td> <td> 12 Lexie Kreizel, LL </td> <td> 16 Marriah Buss, LL </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 21 Lexie Kreizel, LL </td> <td> 11 Marriah Buss, LL </td> <td> 16 Paige Lukasiewicz, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 21 Emily Trotter, BB </td> <td> 3rd Place Match </td> <td> 12 Josie Jakubowski, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 18 Kendal Brigham, Wahoo </td> <td> 23 Emily Trotter, BB </td> <td> 12 Camryn Morgan, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 18 Taylor Luben, Wahoo </td> <td> 14 Kailyn Scott, BB </td> <td> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   Assists <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> Thursday </td> <td> Friday </td> <td> Saturday </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 44 Elle Glock, Wahoo </td> <td> Championship </td> <td> Championship </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 34 Olivia Poppert, St. Paul </td> <td> 54 Olivia Poppert, St. Paul </td> <td> 43 Olivia Poppert, St. Paul </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 33 Kailyn Scott, BB </td> <td> 20 Ashlyn DeBoer, LL </td> <td> 25 Paige Trutna, LL </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 22 Paige Trutna, LL </td> <td> 16 Paige Trutna, LL </td> <td> 25 Ashlyn DeBoer, LL </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 14 Ashlyn DeBoer, LL </td> <td> 3rd Place Match </td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> 37 Elle Glock, Wahoo </td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> 35 Kailyn Scott, BB </td> <td> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>