East Midlands Conference Pool Play Wrap Up

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Eastern Midlands Conference Tournament wrapped up on Saturday at Norris High School with the Norris Titans capturing the crown. It was a tune up or more like  a crystal ball for the State Tourney in November as Norris, Waverly and Elkhorn North are all ranked in the Top 5 of Class B currently. Wild Card Points as of October 4th had the teams seeded in this order #1 Norris, #2 Elkhorn North, #3 Waverly, #4 Elkhorn, #5 Bennington and #6 Blair. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Pool A at Norris Middle School, featured #1 Norris, #4 Elkhorn and #5 Bennington. In the first match Norris played Bennington and swept the Badgers in 2 with scores of 25-11, 25-16. Fellow Seniors [player_tooltip player_id="37542" first="Ella" last="Waters"] and Sydney Jellinek had 11 and 10 kills respectively. Junior [player_tooltip player_id="59203" first="Gracie" last="Kircher"] chipped in 6. [player_tooltip player_id="37546" first="Maisie" last="Boesiger"] had 25 set assists for the Titans in the opening round win. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elkhorn and Benningotn squared off next and it was a very competitive game with lots of good rallies. Elkhorn came away with the win with scores of 16-25, 27-25, and 25-21. The Antlers had 6 ace serves as a team and Senior [player_tooltip player_id="58800" first="Taylor" last="Bunjer"] hammered 14 kills and Junior Hayley Wolfe had 13 plus 3 solo blocks. Bunjer is very fun to watch and brings a ton of energy and competitiveness to the floor. She is strong and hits sideline really well. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elkhorn then faced Norris in the last game of pool play. Norris dominated the first set 25-3 and the Antlers fought back to make the second set a bit more competitive with a 25-16 loss. Senior setter [player_tooltip player_id="37546" first="Maisie" last="Boesiger"] had 6 aces in the win and Waters hammered away 11 kills in the win. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pool B at Norris High School, featured #2 Elkhorn North and #6 Blair. Elkhorn North struggled serving in the match and had 8 serving errors as they defeated Blair 25-10 and 25-12. Junior [player_tooltip player_id="59201" first="Grace" last="Heaney"] had 11 kills in the match and Kailey Hrbek and freshman [player_tooltip player_id="155043" first="Shay" last="Heaney"] each chipped in with 4. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id="155043" first="Shay" last="Heaney"] was very impressive as a freshman on Saturday. She can jump out of the gym and has a quick arm swing, plus a great serve. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Blair and Waverly followed and the Vikings swept the Bears 25-14, 25-18. In the second set Blair gave Waverly all they could handle as they tied up at 14 then Waverly went on scoring run to close out the match. Senior [player_tooltip player_id="37528" first="Bekka" last="Allick"] led Waverly with 10 kills. Libero [player_tooltip player_id="58797" first="Karsen" last="VanScoy"] chipped in with 3 service aces. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><img class="size-medium wp-image-161018 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2021/10/IMG-8750-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" />Then marathon volleyball, as Waverly takes on Elkhorn North. This was an amazing match to watch with two very talented teams. Going into the match you knew it would be epic and it was! Elkhorn North took the first set 25-22 and then Waverly storms back in a grinder for a 36-34 win in the second set and then closed out the match with a 25-21 win to claim a spot in the Championship. For the Vikings they were led by [player_tooltip player_id="37528" first="Bekka" last="Allick"] with 20 kills and 4 ace serves followed by junior Jaelyn Dicke with 11 kills. Elkhorn North was led by [player_tooltip player_id="155043" first="Shay" last="Heaney"] with 15 followed by [player_tooltip player_id="59201" first="Grace" last="Heaney"] with 10 kills, Kiley Nadgwick and Hrbek chipped in with 7 kills.  Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="109593" first="Reese" last="Booth"] had 35 set assists in the loss. One thing I love watching is [player_tooltip player_id="109593" first="Reese" last="Booth"]’s natural ability to lead as just a sophomore and her ability to shake off mistakes and move on to the next play. She is positive and brings a ton of energy to the floor! </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After pool play wrapped up then teams played for 1st, 3rd and 5th respectively. Check out those results and analysis in my next article! </span></p>