Second-seeded College Heights opened the Class 1 District 11 volleyball tournament in style, sweeping seventh-seeded Bronaugh before McAuley Catholic closed the opening day with a four-set win over sixth-seeded Sheldon on Thursday at Thomas Jefferson High School.
COLLEGE HEIGHTS SWEEPS BRONAUGH
College Heights made quick work of its quarterfinal round matchup with Bronaugh in the district tournament, knocking off the Wildcats in straight sets with a 25-5, 25-7 and 25-12 sweep.
“It was fun and the gym was kind of quiet because it was so early in the evening,” CHC coach Mary Colin said after the win. “That was OK because the girls are fine with that. We hit the ball well and finished with 25 kills and 25 aces as a team. The girls kept the ball in play and did a good job scoring.”
With the win, the Cougars (22-9-2) advance to the semifinal round with a matchup against third-seeded McAuley Catholic at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“This team is not only fun to coach, but they are fun to watch,” Colin said. “I want them to enjoy playing and have fun. I want them all to have their best night together. So, hopefully they all click at the same time, and it’s near the end of the season so I think that will happen for them.”
Addie Lawrence led the Cougars with 14 kills, six aces in service and a dig. Maddy Colin finished with 25 assists, two aces and a kill. Libby Fanning finished with six kills, while Lauren Ukena had five kills, seven aces and three digs. Ava Masena finished with eight aces and two digs. Lindsey Griesemer had three aces, two kills, an assist and three digs.
“Maddy mixed it up and went to the middle when she needed to, or went to Lindsey over to the right when she needed to,” Coach Colin said about the offensive output. “They could have softened up just to keep it inbounds, but I felt like they still swung with power.”
College Heights jumped out to an 8-3 lead off a Lawrence kill before she stepped to the service line for a seven-point run that consisted of three aces to push the lead to 14-3. Ukena, Fanning and Griesemer each added kills.
Moments later, Griesemer went on an eight-point service run to close out the win. She had four aces in the run, with Ukena and Marley Woodford earning kills.
The Cougars opened the second set much like they closed the first, with Ukena scoring the game’s first 10 points in service to build a commanding lead. Ukena had five aces in the run and Lawrence contributed four kills. With the score at 10-3, College Heights scored 10 of the next 11 points for a 21-4 advantage on the way to the win.
CHC and Bronaugh had a 3-3 score in the third set before Masena scored 10 straight points in service, with the first four coming in the form of aces, to take all of the momentum quickly and ultimately sending the Cougars on to the sweep. Libby Fanning and Lawrence each had two kills in the run.
“Serving accurately is really good, but they’re also being really aggressive servers,” Coach Colin said about her team’s ability at the service line in the win. “It is fun to watch them serve where they are supposed to, and it’s really fun to watch them get some aces out of it.”
MCAULEY RALLIES PAST SHELDON
After dropping the opening set, third-seeded McAuley Catholic defeated sixth-seeded Sheldon 24-26, 25-5, 25-21 and 25-14 in the Class 1 District 11 quarterfinal round on Thursday.
With the win, the Warriors improve to 21-14-2 on the season and match up with third-seeded College Heights in the semifinal round on Saturday.
Lily Black had eight kills and 11 assists to lead the Warriors, while Kloee Williamson had seven kills, five aces and eight digs. JoJo Wheeler finished the win out with nine digs.
JOPLIN AND CARTHAGE FALL IN QUARTERFINALS
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — Joplin and Carthage each saw its respective season come to an end on Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the Class 5 District 7 volleyball tournament hosted by Lee’s Summit West High School.
Joplin fell 25-23, 25-18 and 25-12 to Lee’s Summit North (12-21) to finish the season with a 16-17-1 record.
Carthage fell 25-11, 25-14 and 25-15 to St. Teresa’s Academy to close the season with a 9-21-2 record.
No other information was available at the time of publication.
