Class 3 State Tournament Recap

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We shared from the start of the year who we thought would win the 3A state tournament. With two of the top players in the state in 3A on the same roster, staying healthy and having the supporting cast step up would be the key. Even though they didn't need it, Heritage Christian created some additional motivation using their "seed" as a rallying cry. Their record doesn't dictate their level of play due to playing a schedule of numerous 5A and 6A schools. Nonetheless, they "outplayed" their seed to capture consecutive 3A state championship titles.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top seed Nemaha Central and their 42-1 record took care of their pool in straight sets to advance to the semifinal round. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='122209' first='Addy' last='Holthaus']</strong> delivered 27 kills over the three matches to lead the way. The setting tandem of <strong>Eli Rusche</strong> and <strong>Lilly Schultejans</strong> was impressive also on day 1. Cheney took care of business in their first two contests to put themselves in a position to advance to the next round regardless of the outcome versus Nemaha Central. They played the Thunder tough, losing in two by a combined 7 points. <strong>Alex Bitner</strong> and <strong>Campbell Hague </strong>were solid in the two wins with their offensive performance. Beloit would defeat Smoke Valley to round out pool play records. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We didn't completely spoil the second pool as the top two teams advanced. The question is was Heritage first or second in pool play? Well, it was Heritage who won the pool but it didn't come easy as their final match of the day saw a 26-24 set one victory. The 7th seed took down 2nd seed Riverton in the opening match. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='119704' first='Cy' last='Rae Campbell'] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='119708' first='Rachel' last='Van Gorp']</strong> combined for 17 kills. <strong>Maci Hazel</strong> dished out 26 assists. This defeat would be the only one for Riverton as they took care of business to get to championship day as the second team sweeping Eureka and Goodland. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='120032' first='Jacy' last='Thomasson']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='119803' first='Elizabeth' last='Wells']</strong> both had 12 kills each against Goodland. Eureka would go winless, dropping their other match to Goodland. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The semifinal saw Nemaha Central take on Riverton in one match. Heritage Christian would see Cheney. Central jumped all over Riverton in the first second with a 25-9 win. Riverton rebounded in the second two but wasn't enough as they dropped the set -20. Heritage had little trouble winning in two to set up the showdown against the favorite Chargers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Heritage saved their best showing for the final contests as they were clicking on all cylinders with tremendous defense and steady offense. Junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='515019' first='Maddy' last='Wolf'] </strong>became the third wheel offensively contributing 7 kills to match Campbell's 7. Van Gorp led the way with 11, along with 11 digs for the double-double. The defense held Nemaha to a .042 hitting percentage in the -16, -13 sweep. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cheney would capture the third-place hardware in a three-set win over Riverton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>All-Tournament Team</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Elina Barlett (Cheney), [player_tooltip player_id='173375' first='Addison' last='Budke'] (Beloit), [player_tooltip player_id='119704' first='Cy' last='Rae Campbell'] (Heritage Christian), Campbell Hague (Cheney), Maci Hazel (Heritage Christian), [player_tooltip player_id='122209' first='Addy' last='Holthaus'] (Nemaha Central), [player_tooltip player_id='465558' first='Cali' last='Honeyman'] (Nemaha Central), [player_tooltip player_id='216387' first='Lauren' last='Jacobs'] (Heritage Christian), Ella Larkin (Nemaha Central), [player_tooltip player_id='120029' first='Olivia' last='Lehman'] (Goodland), [player_tooltip player_id='120032' first='Jacy' last='Thomasson'] (Riverton, [player_tooltip player_id='119708' first='Rachel' last='Van Gorp'] (Heritage Christian)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->