CAMBRIDGE FALLS TO CEDAR CATHOLIC
Cambridge came into the Class D1 State Volleyball Tournament as the #2 seed and set to take on Cedar Catholic the #7 seed. The Cambridge Trojans fell in a five-set thriller with the scores reading 19-25, 30-32, 25-21, 25-14, and 15-10.
In that first set, it was a bit of an offensive struggle but, for Cambridge, their defense traveled as they did a solid job keeping the ball off the floor. Cambridge led 10-5 early in the set and from there they maintained the lead. Cedar Catholic go within a couple of points at 21-19, but Cambridge reeled off four in a row to close the set.
In set two, it was a dog fight. Cedar Catholic came out on fire as they led 7-1 before Cambridge took a timeout. Then, they pushed their lead to 14-3 before another timeout was taken. From there, the Cambridge Trojans got rolling as they chipped away at the lead by going on a 14-3 run to tie things up at 17-17. The teams just continued to throw haymakers at one another until the Cambridge Trojans created separation after a number of set points.
"During the second set the girls fought so hard to get caught back up from being down 3-14 that they just had it in their minds that they were going to finish it out and that’s exactly what they did— they fought tooth and nail to finish out that set and I was so extremely proud of them for that," said Head Coach of the Cambridge Trojans, Lauren Carpenter.
In the third set, the highs from set two for the Cambridge Trojans didn't last long, Cedar Catholic was not wavered by the previous set loss took it 25-21.
In the fourth set, it was much of the same as Cedar Catholic just continued to play well on both defense and offense and they won 25-14 to force a fifth and final set.
In the final set, Cedar Catholic jumped out to a strong start as they led 7-2 before Cambridge took a timeout.
The timeout helped, as the Trojans climbed back into the match making it 12-10 before Cedar Catholic called a timeout. From there, Cedar Catholic closed things out, winning 15-10.
Unofficially for the Cambridge Trojans, they were led by Jalen Kent with 11 kills and Erin Johnson added 10.
Cedar Catholic was led by Laney Kathol, as unofficially she had 27 kills in the match.
Cambridge ends the year at 29-3. Cedar Catholic will face Maywood-Hayes Center in the semifinals in Pinnacle Bank Arena at 11:00 AM.
MAYWOOD-HAYES CENTER HEADING TO THE SEMIFINALS
For the #3 seeded Maywood-Hayes Center Wolves, they took on #6 seeded Merdian in the first round of the Class D1 Tournament. Maywood-Hayes Center took care of business winning in four sets, dropping the first, 18-25, then taking the next three sets, 25-21, 25-14, and 25-21.
In the first set, the main difference was that Merdian played a cleaner set of volleyball than the Wolves. But, after that first set loss, the Wolves were rolling.
Initially in set number two, Meridian came out strong and led 7-6. The Wolves though countered with a mini-run going up 9-8. From there it went a little back and forth, but the Wolves closed the set on a 4-2 run and some tough defense.
In set three, Maywood-Hayes Center left little doubt who would win this set as they went up 4-0 to start and just kept increasing their lead as they played stout defense and kept attacking on the offensive side.
In the fourth set, you could tell the Mustangs were getting tired, as every point they got against the Wolves was earned, and for Maywood-Hayes Center, they appeared to be getting stronger and stronger.
They just continued to be tough on serve receive and also when they toed the service line, gave Merdian problems, taking the set and the match.
Head Coach of the Wolves, Shayne Lawson, had this to say about the changes they made after the first set. "We made a few adjustments offensively. Our defense was putting in a lot of effort and we needed to execute on offense. We also did a better job of passing in the last three sets and tried to clean up the errors we gave them in the first set."
Unoffically, Mataya Roberts led the way with 10 kills for Maywood-Hayes Center.
The Wolves will play Cedar Catholic at 11:00 AM on Friday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
ROUGHRIDERS SEASON ENDS IN FIVE SET BATTLE
What appeared to be a match in which Southwest had complete control, ended up being an Oakland-Craig victory in five sets. Southwest, the #5 seed in class C2 was rolling through two sets when the #4 seed, Oakland-Craig ended up winning with the set scores being 13-25, 24-26, 25-13, 25-10, 15-11.
In that first set, the Roughriders could do no wrong as they were attacking from every which direction at a high success rate.
In set two, it was a much harder fought win. Southwest had to tighten up a few times as they found themselves down 24-23. The Roughriders scored three straight points to get the close victory.
In set three, Oakland-Craig found their offense, and became tough on defense. The Knights went up 5-0, and then 12-2 and never looked back in the set.
In the fourth set, the Knights didn't let up and the Roughriders struggled to get anything going as the lost the set 25-10.
In the fifth and final set of the match, it was a battle. Oakland-Craig jumped out to a 6-3 lead. Southwest though, played gritty volleyball and got back into the match, tying it at 10-10. The Knight though had an answer, going on a 5-1 run to close it out.
Unoffically, Southwest was led by Caylin Barnett and her 12 kills. Oakland-Craig was led by Maycie Johnson and her seven kills.
Southwest ends the year at 27-7. Oakland-Craig will face #1 seeded Lincoln Luthern on Friday at 1:00 PM in Pinnacle Bank Arena.
