Millard North Repeats at Metro Conference Champions
RALSTON – Millard North was able to repeat as Metro Conference champions on Thursday night at Ralston Arena, but not without being pushed to the limit by upstart Millard South. Top-seeded Millard North won the 17-team tournament with a 25-19,…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingRALSTON – Millard North was able to repeat as Metro Conference champions on Thursday night at Ralston Arena, but not without being pushed to the limit by upstart Millard South.
Top-seeded Millard North won the 17-team tournament with a 25-19, 25-19, 24-26, 24-26, 15-9 victory over sixth-seeded Millard South.
Despite being 0-2 against Millard North this season, the Patriots’ tenacious defense and balanced offense kept Millard South in the hunt until the very end. Millard North had three match points in the fourth set, but Millard South battled back from a 24-21 deficit with five straight points to push the match to a fifth set.
In the fifth set, Mustang senior Paige Holdsworth got hot early and her fourth kill of the set put Millard North up 7-4 and Emma Grunkemeyer followed with a kill of her own to make it 8-4. Paige Fixemer tried to keep Millard South close in the final set and the Patriots got within 10-7, but a kill by McKenna Ruch made it 11-7 Millard North and the Patriots never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
Ruch, an Omaha recruit, led the Mustangs with 21 kills and 16 digs while Holdsworth had 11 kills and 20 digs and Izzy Lukens had 11 kills, 16 digs and 54 assists. Emmy Grant had six blocks and Gunkemeyer had three. Emma Altman had 34 digs and Allie Kerns had 13 kills.
Fixemer led Millard South with 14 kills and three blocks while Maddie Made had 12 kills and two aces and Lauren Walenz had nine kills. Jaisee Stinson finished the match with 44 assists and one kill and one ace while Claire Larson had seven kills and Kelsey Olson had one.
The two teams being district playoffs next week.