Volleyball Slam Recap

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I know...I know! This happened almost two weeks ago. Well, the day before the Slam I experienced something for the first time in my life...Covid! And today I finally tested negative so playing catch up a little as I felt like doing nothing. So where do we start? We will start with me going 6-2 on my picks. Blue Valley Northwest and Bishop Miege were my mishaps, so not bad overall. Here's a quick recap of the matches.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Olathe East vs. Blue Valley</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We came to learn Olathe East grabbed their first Slam win since 2018 in the opening match. The Hawks walked away with a sweep, winning -22, -18. There wasn't a ton of offense in the match for East as they finished with only 18 kills in the two sets, led by Chole Tyrrell with six in the match. Where they lacked offensively they made up for a little behind the service line, grabbing six aces in the contest. Junior Audrey Willis had three of them, followed by senior Maddie Wilcox with two.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blue Valley Northwest vs. Washburn Rural</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Though Washburn Rural is the defending champs, we thought Blue Valley Northwest could pull off the big win and it appeared that way after they dominated set 1, -16. The second set was much more competitive with Washburn Rural and their experience proving to be key as they would win the next two sets with match scores, -21 to capture the match. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='222086' first='Morgan' last='Sears'] played big for the Huskies, finishing the battle with 15 kills. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='219709' first='Summer' last='Anderson'] had 18 digs along the back row. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Shawnee Mission Northwest vs. Lansing</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Julie Slater returned to the Lansing sideline this year and the first set didn't go as anticipated with the Cougars racing out to a 25-20 first-set victory behind the play of senior Liv Martin and freshman [player_tooltip player_id='446314' first='Bo' last='Bronson']. We discussed in our preview and rankings that Lansing has an experienced squad back and they didn't get rattled after dropping the first and stormed back for a -17 second set. The final set was a back-and-forth but Lansing would pull it out -22. The Laincz family contributed to 13 of the team's 28 kills with [player_tooltip player_id='119810' first='Anna' last='Laincz'] grabbing 8 and freshman [player_tooltip player_id='456247' first='Halle' last='Laincz'] getting 5. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='222091' first='Avery' last='Sands'] also added 7 of her own. Martin and Bronson combined for 15 kills and setter Lilli Webber, a sophomore dished out 24 assists. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mill Valley vs. Blue Valley West</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It looked bleak early when setter [player_tooltip player_id='173372' first='Lily' last='Wedman'] appeared to get banged up a little before the match. A team returning many key players would get pick-me-ups from two freshmen, Peyton Kubik and [player_tooltip player_id='446324' first='Sasha' last='Cromer'] to earn the sweep over Mill Valley. Cromer under the big lights in her first varsity match dialed up 20 assists and Kubik was a beneficiary of those dimes earning 12 kills. The defense also played well with [player_tooltip player_id='173395' first='Brookelyn' last='Hatton'] and [player_tooltip player_id='222087' first='Carlie' last='Pandjaris'] teaming up for 17 of the 30 digs on the day. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>St. Teresa's Academy vs. Bishop Miege</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Twinks and the Stars raced out to a 25-22 first-set win over Bishop Miege in the state-line rivalry. The Stars may have been underlooked a tad losing a few key players but senior Margot Randall led the way with 7 kills to complete the sweep after a spirited 26-24 second set. [player_tooltip player_id='222061' first='Lily' last='Stuart'] was one of two Stars setters and finished with 11 assists. Miege got 7 kills apiece from [player_tooltip player_id='173376' first='Lauren' last='Lopez'] and [player_tooltip player_id='493386' first='Kirston' last='Verhulst']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blue Valley North vs. Lee's Summit West</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blue Valley North looked in midseason form and was strong in their opening match. They were dominated in the first set, getting a -12 beat down. The Titans fought back and competed in the second but dropped the set and match. [player_tooltip player_id='119693' first='Janelle' last='Green'] and [player_tooltip player_id='154041' first='Logan' last='Parks'] had 6 kills each and had all of the team's assists in the contest. The Mustangs had 8 aces. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Olathe Northwest vs. St. Thomas Aquinas</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This was a pretty good match considering the Ravens were missing one of the top players in the country as she was out of the country completing Team USA duties. I loved the fight from Olathe Northwest and they showed they will be a team to be reckoned with. Aquinas was too strong across the board as they grabbed the -19, -22 sweep. [player_tooltip player_id='119724' first='Jillian' last='Huckabey'] had 10 kills in a losing effort. St. Thomas was very balanced on offense with [player_tooltip player_id='119725' first='Tatum' last='Grimes'] and [player_tooltip player_id='119691' first='Kelsey' last='Schenck'] leading the way with 6 each. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Liberty North vs. St. James Academy</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We got the answer early on that [player_tooltip player_id='119226' first='Carlie' last='Cisneros'] was taped up and playing. It didn't matter because St. James was clicking and showed why we have them as our top-ranked team to start the year, winning in straight sets -16, -15. Four Thunder players had at least four kills, with [player_tooltip player_id='119723' first='Julia' last='Headley'] (8) and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='355656' first='Leah' last='Robinson'] (6) leading the onslaught. [player_tooltip player_id='154039' first='Reese' last='Messer'] finished the night with 22 assists. Liberty North only had 10 kills on the night offensively. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->