Comeback falls short

CENTRAL CITY -- The Scotus Central Catholic volleyball team had had enough. It was time to break the streak.

After losing the first five sets against Grand Island Central Catholic this season, the Class C-1, No. 3 Shamrocks opened the C1-4 District final by dropping the first two sets 25-18, 25-20 to the top-ranked Crusaders. Down 2-0 and losing 24-23 in the third set, SCC refused to be swept again and came back to win the third set 26-24 and the fourth set 25-20 before falling 15-7 in the fifth and decisive set Friday at Central City to finish as the district runner-up.

“(In the third set) all we had to do was make a play or two and we would have an opportunity,” SCC coach John Petersen said. “Fortunately we were able to do that. And that was the difference.

“They are a great team and have so much balance. It is hard to defend everything but I thought our kids did a great job and I am proud of the effort they gave, especially coming back from being down 2-0. It was a good match and I’m proud of our kids. We took another step tonight.”

Both teams entered the district final as the No. 1 and No. 2-seeds in the wildcard rankings and were headed to the state tournament no matter the outcome. With the loss, Scotus earned one of the wildcard berths and will play No. 10 Wisner-Pilger at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Lincoln Northeast High School.

In all five sets, the Crusaders drew first blood. Jumping out to an early lead in what could have been the decisive third set, GICC seemed poised to move onto the state tournament having only lost two sets all season.

But the Shamrocks had something else in mind. Behind the play of Telegram Super Senior Monica Boeding, SCC turned the tables and the momentum on the Crusaders. Boeding had nine of her game-high 26 kills in the third set, while Maggie Hellbusch had three. Hellbusch and Katelyn Kerkman played big roles for the Scotus block, an area Petersen knew his squad would have to play with a high intensity.

“We made some digs and blocks defensively and everybody made some great plays,” he said. “I am happy for our kids that they competed. I knew coming in it was going to be a difficult match to beat them tonight.”

Kerkman led Scotus with five blocks in the match and Hellbusch had one. As Boeding’s play rose offensively, Scotus’ overall play rose along with her.

“We needed her to do that. Monica is the one player who can really jump and their block on the outside wasn’t quite as big,” Petersen said. “She has to pound it and I don’t think she was really getting after it in the first two games but she really warmed up and by the end she was playing very well.”

The third and fourth sets were a stark contrast to the first two, where the Crusaders had their way in the middle. Steph Brand was unstoppable early on, with 11 of her 22 kills coming in GICC’s first two set victories.

“She is such a big force that when we started to go outside, Scotus had a hard time adjusting to that because we had a square block,” GICC coach Sharon Zavala said. “It is really important for us to get her involved in the play.”

But by the third set the Shamrocks had adapted their defense to contain Brand and the momentum started to shift. Another key to the turnaround was Scotus’ defensive intensity. Digs were more abundant and long rallies �” which had gone in the Crusaders’ favor in the first two sets �” began to fall for SCC.

“They got into their groove and did not let the ball hit the floor,” Zavala said. “They played great defense and played a great match.”

The final set came down to two crucial points. With GICC leading 6-4, setter Bailey Baxter stepped behind the service line and served back-to-back ace serves, her team’s first of the match. After a SCC error and a kill for both teams, Scotus was looking up at a 10-5 lead for the Crusaders, one they would not relinquish.

Baxter was a pivotal player all night for GICC. She led the match with 51 set assists and her ability to correctly spread the ball among four tough attackers �” Brand, Liz McGowan, Jessica Wojcik and Katie Brand �” gave the Shamrocks fits early and often.

On the opposite side, Jordan Chohon led Scotus with 45 set assists, to go with four kills, an ace serve and one block. Hellbusch had 13 kills while McKenzie Leu had 10 and Kerkman added six.

Despite the loss, Scotus will enter the state tournament with a good amount of confidence, having ripped the monkey off its back and taken GICC to five sets.

“We learned from this. You have to learn from a match like this and we certainly learned a lot,” Petersen said. “We now know what level we can play at and the intensity level it is going to take.”

Both squads will only meet again in the championship match, and while many are expecting such to be the case, the Shamrocks aren’t thinking about anything other than Wisner-Pilger.

“For us to play at this level with GICC is a good sign of our team and what we’ve done. But there are two big matches before we even think about playing these guys again. We have to just use this and play at this level or higher the next game.”

GICC (32-0) 25 25 24 20 15

SCC (21-5) 18 20 26 25 7

# SCC (kills-ace serves-blocks) -- Monica Boeding 26-1-0, McKenzie Leu 10-1-0, Maggie Hellbusch 13-0-1, Katelyn Kerkman 6-0-5, Lindsay McElhose 2-0-0, Jordan Chohon 4-1-1, Tiffany Haney 0-0-0, Laura Zach 0-0-0, Andrea Odbert 0-1-0.

# GICC (kills-ace serves-blocks) -- Jessica Wojcik 15-0-0, Katie Brand 11-0-1, Liz McGowan 18-0-0, Steph Brand 22-0-2, Jamie Partington 2-0-3, Bailey Baxter 2-2-0.

# SET ASSISTS: SCC�” Chohon 45, Zach 4, Hellbusch 1. GICC�” Baxter 51, K. Brand 8, S. Brand 1.