Multiple Tri-Cities teams were in action on Championship Saturday of the NSAA Volleyball Championships. Amherst reverse swept Overton in D1 for the Broncos first state championship, while Milford won their first state championship in the C1 Championship against Holdrege. Sumner-Eddyville-Miller took third in the D2 Championship over Dundy County Stratton, and EMF defeated Shelton in the D1 third place match.
AMHERST GOES 4-0, DEFEATS OVERTON IN D1 FINAL
Longtime Fort Kearny Conference Rivals Overton and Amherst met three times this season. The fourth matchup between the Eagles and the Broncos for all the marbles in D1 was bound to be an instant classic at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. After the Eagles took the first two sets, Amherst dominated the third set and never looked back, picking up a reverse sweep of Overton to win the NSAA D1 Championship Match, 3-2 (20-25, 17-25, 25-11, 26-24, 15-11)
Overton started with seven of the first ten points, powered by three kills from Gracen Hughes and two from Daisy Ryan. Both teams would trade points until Overton took advantage after an Amherst timeout. Amherst would whittle the Overton lead down to two points, but the Eagles would take a 7-2 run to lead 20-13. Both teams would trade service aces, and a Halynn Hughes kill would wrap up the set.
In the second set, the teams were tied through the first ten points, before Overton went on a dominant run, leading 15-6 and later 20-10. Amherst would score five straight points after being down 23-16, but Piper McCarter’s kill gave the second set to the Eagles.
Amherst was able to start flipping the script on its head in the third set. Overton hit -.132 in the third, and wasn’t able to hit above .100 the rest of the match. Both teams were evenly matched through the first 14 points, but Amherst was able to take the next 11 of a possible 13 points and led 20-9 before closing out the set 25-11.
Overton would return with a vengence in the fourth, but Amherst was able to fend off Overton match point at 24-22 and win four straight points to force a pivotal fifth match. In the fifth, after the teams split the first eight points, Amherst would take four of the next six points, and the Amherst block between Mackenzie Cochran and Sadie Van Ranken would clinch the championship.
Amherst was led by a 19 kill performance from Libby Mitchell, while Sadie Van Ranken and lone Amherst Senior Addy Simmons also finished with double digit kills with 12 and 10, respectively. MacKenzie Cochran had 25 assists for the Broncos, and they had 11 total blocks.
Overton was led by a double-double from Daisy Ryan with 23 kills and 20 digs, and Gracen Hughes added 20 kills. Braelyn Florell had 22 digs.
Amherst caps off a 28-5 season with their first championship, while Overton’s season concludes at 28-6.
Amherst won their first state title in school history in a reverse sweep against Overton (Jeremy Buss, CentralNebraskaToday.com)
MILFORD BESTS UPSET-MINDED HOLDREGE IN C1 TITLE
Going into the C1 title game, somebody would be winning their first state volleyball championship. Milford was able to accomplish the feat, getting the win in four sets over the Holdrege Dusters (25-13, 16-25, 25-15, 25-19).
Holdrege was unable to limit the damage from the Eagles’ Shayla Rautenberg, who hit a blistering .407 with 30 kills (59 swings, 6 errors) in the match. Holdrege had three Dusters with double digit kills, with Emily Stutzman leading the way on 17 kills and 10 digs. Carson Sundquist had 13 kills and Gracie Johnson had 10 kills. Sundquist and Addy Stutzman both had 21 digs for the No. 8 seed, who defeated Ogallala and Omaha Concordia to reach the state championship match. Their season ends at 24-10.
THIRD PLACE MATCHUPS
D1: Sumner-Eddyville-Miller defeats Dundy County Stratton in five sets (25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 15-7)
D2: EMF defeats Shelton in straight sets (25-18, 25-21, 25-18)
