Lakeview's serves help top Columbus

COLUMBUS - Aggressive serving can lead to more than just ace serves.

Just ask the Lakeview and Columbus High volleyball teams.

The Viqueens' serving kept CHS from getting into its offense as they came away with a 25-11, 25-16 win to take third in the Columbus High Invitational Saturday.

Lakeview coach K.C. Belitz said the Viqueens focused on trying to serve aggressively all week in practice and was pleased with the result, with eight ace serves against the Discoverers.

“We talked to the girls this week about serving tougher, and I think they did a great job with that against Columbus,” Belitz said. “During the season, we served a good percentage but haven't really served tough enough. The kids executed that pretty well, not only against Columbus, but the entire day as well.”

Lakeview opened the tournament with a 25-12, 25-15 loss to Class A, No. 9 Grand Island but bounced back to defeat North Platte 25-8, 15-25, 25-16. The Discoverers started their day with a 25-18, 25-19 but fell to Fremont

The Discoverers stayed with the Viqueens for a while. After falling behind 7-2, Columbus worked its way back to 11-9, thanks to kills from Sarah Schroeder and Rashay Wright, while Lakeview committed four errors in the process.

But a CHS error prevented it from getting closer and then Brea Muhle kept it that way thanks to her serving. She served 10 consecutive points with four ace serves for a 21-9 lead. Also, Muhle's serves didn't allow Columbus to get into rhythm as it passed free balls over. The same happened when Kush's serving, which allowed Lakeview to get terminations from Ashley Wurdeman, Blaine Muhle and Bethany Runge to take the first set.

“Give Lakeview credit, they did a great job of keeping us on the defense,” CHS coach Jared Johnson said. “They served very aggressive and we were not able to pass well enough to be able to run our offense. And it was the opposite for us, we didn't serve aggressive enough to get them out of system and when they are in system, they can be tough to stop.”

Blaine Muhle made her presence known as she started the set with three kills to put Lakeview up 6-2 to start the second set. In the first set passing became an issue for the Discoverers. Alexis Henke went to the service line and delivered an ace serve, while Wurdeman gave them a 12-4 lead.

The closest Columbus reached was 15-11 with two kills from Schroeder and Abbey Arlt. The two teams traded points from there until Wurdeman, who led Lakeview with nine kills in the match, terminated one for a point and Chantelle Kush served out the match. Muhle finished with two ace blocks while Kush added an ace serve during the run.

Muhle had 19 kills, eight ace serves and seven ace blocks to lead Lakeview for the day. Wurdeman pounded down 22 kills and Ali Luckey led the offense with 39 set assists during the tournament.

Schreoder led the Discoverers with 20 kills and three ace serves for the tournament. Anne Gates had 13 kills while Wright added 12 kills, while Arlt had 51 set assists.

Belitz said the day was up and down. The Viqueens led Grand Island 9-7 in the first set before the Islanders took over.

“We started OK, but then it looked like girls thought they didn't belong in the match,” Belitz said. “The kids were not happy with their play against Grand Island. The kids did a great job of bouncing back and they know they can compete with anybody.”

Johnson said the Discoverers looked OK at times but thought passing was a problem all day.

“I thought we started off well against Hastings,” Johnson said. “Then our passing broke down against Fremont. We really didn't want to make errors so we were concerned with our serves, and we weren't able to terminate the ball as well because we were out of system. I think they tried to play safe today.”

The Discoverers will host No. 7 Lincoln East while the Viqueens will be back in action as they travel to David City Aquinas, both Tuesday.

Lakeview (13-6) 25 25

Columbus (8-13) 11 16

n LAKEVIEW (Kills-aces-blocks): Ali Luckey 3-0-0; Morgan Stover 0-0-0; Blaine Muhle 6-1-3; Brea Muhle 2-4-0 ; Alexis Henke 2-1-0; Ashley Wurdeman 9-0-0; Bethany Runge 4-0-0; Chantelle Kush 0-2-0.

n COLUMBUS (Kills-ace serves-blocks): Abbey Arlt 1-0-0; Rashay Wright 1-0-0; Sarah Schroeder 5-0-0; Anne Gates 3-0-0; Ana Czarnick 1-0-0.

n ASSISTS: LV - Luckey 19, Kush 1; CHS - Arlt 9, Molly Brown 1, Alisha Lange 1.

Columbus Tournament

White Pool

Grand Island def. Lakeview, 25-12, 25-15

Lakeview def. North Platte, 25-8, 15-25, 25-16

Grand Island def. North Platte, 25-14, 25-7

Maroon Pool

Columbus def. Hastings, 25-18, 25-19

Fremont def. Columbus, 25-21, 25-19

Fremont def. Hastings, 25-9, 21-25, 25-23

Fifth Place

North Platte def. Hastings, 22-25, 25-20, 27-25

Third Place

Lakeview def. Columbus, 25-11, 25-16

Championship

Grand Island def. Fremont, 25-20, 25-19

Lakeview totals

n KILLS: Ashley Wurdeman 22, Blaine Muhle 19, Brea Muhle 12, Bethany Runge 10, Alexis Henke 5, Ali Luckey 4.

n ASSISTS: Luckey 39.

n BLOCKS: Bl. Muhle 7, Wurdeman 1, Br. Muhle 1, Runge 1.

n ACES: Bl. Muhle 8, Br. Muhle 3, Henke 3, Chantelle Kush 3, Morgan Stover 2.

Columbus totals

n KILLS: Sarah Schroeder 20, Anne Gates 13, Rashay Wright 12, Ana Czarnick 6.

n ASSISTS: Abbey Arlt 51.

n BLOCKS: Gates 1, Wright 1, Czarnick 1.

n ACES: Schroeder 3, Arlt 3.