Waverly weary but winning
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BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star
WAVERLY — The Waverly volleyball team is tired, but taking a break right now isn’t an option.
Fresh off a 5-1 performance and third-place showing in the Twin Cities Invitational in Scottsbluff and Gering over the weekend, the Vikings advanced to tonight’s semifinals of the Eastern Midlands Conference Tournament with a 25-12, 25-23, 27-25 first-round victory against Blair on Monday.
When Waverly plays host to Platteview tonight, it will be the Vikings’ eighth match in five days, with an 800-mile round trip to western Nebraska thrown in.
State volleyball rankings
(Records through Saturday)
Class A
School Pvs.
1. Papillion-La Vista (22-0) 1
2. Grand Island (18-1) 2
3. Omaha Marian (18-3) 3
4. Millard North (13-4) 5
5. Lincoln East (13-8) 8
6. Lincoln Southwest (13-5) 4
7. Omaha Bryan (15-4) 9
8. Papillion-LV South (13-7) 10
9. North Platte (10-7) -
10. Kearney (10-9) -
Contenders: Lincoln Southeast, Bellevue East, Omaha Central, Millard West.
Comments: Omaha Central’s win against Bellevue East, Kearney’s victory against Lincoln Southeast and Lincoln East’s sweep of Lincoln Southwest account for this week’s changes. North Platte moves in as well, as the Bulldogs have won six of their last seven matches, including a recent win against Kearney. Bellevue West finished 2-3 at the Nike Challenge in Chicago over the weekend. The rankings don’t include two Monday matches — Bellevue East at Grand Island and Omaha Skutt at Millard West.
Key matches: Tonight—Omaha Central at Omaha Marian, Kearney at Aurora, North Platte at Ogallala. Thursday—Millard North at Lincoln Southwest. Saturday—Lincoln East Invitational (Southwest, Lincoln East, Papillion-La Vista South, Ogallala), Southeast and Northeast at Kearney, North Platte double dual.
Class B
School Pvs.
1. Lincoln Pius X (23-1) 1
2. Northwest (21-2) 2
3. Omaha Gross (14-9) 3
4. Ogallala (18-1) 4
5. Seward (13-3) 10
6. Aurora (13-6) 5
7. Omaha Skutt (15-6) 6
8. Hastings (14-8) 9
9. Waverly (16-8) -
10. Omaha Mercy (10-7) 8
Contenders: South Sioux City, Nebraska City, Omaha Duchesne, Platteview, Alliance, Norris, Crete.
Comments: Seward vaults five spots for its three-set sweep at Aurora, which has lost four of its last six matches. Skutt is punished slightly for a loss to unranked Crete. South Sioux City went 1-4 last week, including losses to Omaha Mercy and Omaha Duchesne. Mercy slips for a loss to Duchesne, but also posted wins against 18-3 Council Bluffs (Iowa) St. Albert and Class A No. 7 Omaha Bryan. Gross struggled at the Nike Challenge in Chicago, going 1-4 and losing all three matches Saturday.
Key matches: Tonight—Hastings at Northwest. Thursday—Aurora at Hastings, Broken Bow and Minden at Ogallala triangular, Eastern Midlands Conference finals.
Class C-1
School Pvs.
1. GI Central Catholic (16-1) 1
2. Columbus Scotus (13-2) 2
3. St. Paul (16-2) 3
4. Syracuse (17-1) 6
5. Kearney Catholic (13-3) 4
6. Johnson Co. Central (17-1) 5
7. Minden (15-5) 7
8. West Point-Beemer (9-0) 8
9. Centennial (12-5) 9
10. Wood River (13-2) 10
Contenders: Hastings St. Cecilia, Bennington, Norfolk Catholic, Battle Creek, Pierce, Wisner-Pilger, Ord, Wahoo.
Comments: Syracuse benefits from Kearney Catholic’s surprise loss to Schuyler and Johnson County Central’s setback to Louisville. GICC pulled out a 19-17, fifth-set win against Ravenna in a matchup of No. 1 teams. Scotus could get another shot at the top-ranked Crusaders in the Centennial Conference Tournament. Centennial solidified its spot with a four-set win against Tri County.
Key matches: Tonight—Minden quadrangular (Wood River, Ravenna, Minden, Shelton), Wahoo at Lincoln Lutheran, Battle Creek at West Point Central Catholic. Thursday—Centennial at Wahoo, Norfolk Catholic at Battle Creek, Ravenna at Kearney Catholic, Freeman at Syracuse. Saturday—Centennial Conference Tournament (GICC, Columbus Scotus, Aquinas, Archbishop Bergan), Wisner-Pilger Invitational (West Point-Beemer, Wisner-Pilger, Norfolk Catholic).
Class C-2
School Pvs.
1. Ravenna (12-5) 1
2. Tri County (11-3) 2
3. Superior (14-3) 4
4. Sutton (16-4) 3
5. Aquinas (12-4) 5
6. North Platte St. Pat’s (11-2) 7
7. Dundy County-Stratton (16-2) 8
8. Lutheran High NE (16-4) -
9. Johnson-Brock (14-4) -
10. Archbishop Bergan (13-5) 10
Contenders: Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer, Thayer Central, Wilber-Clatonia, Southwest, Louisville.
Comments: Tri County recovered from its loss to Centennial by beating host Sutton in its invitational. Sutton slips a spot for a loss to Class C-1 unranked Fillmore Central. Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer sends Thayer Central to contender status with its win against the Titans in the Johnson County Central Invitational. Johnson-Brock pops in for its conquest of Archbishop Bergan in the Conestoga Invitational. Southwest exits for its loss to Class D-1 No. 10 Overton.
Key matches: Tonight—Sutton at Thayer Central, Wilber-Clatonia at Tri County, Chase County and North Platte St. Pat’s at Southwest, Paxton at Dundy County-Stratton. Thursday—Diller-Odell and Pawnee City at Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer; Johnson-Brock at Lourdes Central Catholic, Clay Center at Sutton. Saturday—Falls City Invitational.
Class D-1
School Pvs.
1. Elkhorn Valley (10-4) 1
2. Giltner (16-1) 2
3. Humphrey St. Francis (11-4) 4
4. Pawnee City (11-3) 10
5. Freeman (13-3) 3
6. Bertrand (13-2) 6
7. Silver Lake (11-3) 7
8. Bancroft-Rosalie (12-4) 8
9. Meridian (10-2) 9
10. Overton (12-5) -
Contenders: Alma, Sandhills-Thedford, Mead, Exeter-Milligan, Leyton, West Boyd, Winside, Eustis-Farnam.
Comments: In its own invitational, Elkhorn Valley suffered losses to Class C-1 contenders Norfolk Catholic and Battle Creek. All four of Elkhorn Valley’s setbacks are to Class C-1 teams. Pawnee City is rewarded for its win against Freeman. Giltner suffered its first loss of the season, to Class D-2 No. 3 Clay Center. Overton replaces Alma for a win against the Cardinals.
Key matches: Tonight—Freeman and Diller-Odell at Falls City Sacred Heart; Ewing and West Boyd at Orchard. Thursday—Winside at Wynot. Saturday—West Point Central Catholic Invitational (Elkhorn Valley).
Class D-2
School Pvs.
1. Ewing (18-0) 1
2. Paxton (15-0) 2
3. Clay Center (14-0) 4
4. Chambers (18-1) 3
5. Dodge (13-2) 5
6. Pleasanton (11-2) 6
7. Lawrence-Nelson (10-2) 7
8. Elba (13-2) 8
9. Wynot (10-1) 9
10. Greeley-Wolbach (12-3) -
Contenders: Falls City Sacred Heart, Pope John, Wallace, Mullen, Hay Springs, Parkview Christian, Banner County, Brady.
Comments: A loss to Savannah, Mo., drops Sacred Heart from the top 10. Clay Center gets a promotion for its win against previously unbeaten Giltner.
Key matches: Tonight—Elba and Clearwater at Chambers, Wynot at Newcastle. Thursday—Sutton and Clay Center at Lawrence-Nelson, Winside at Wynot. Saturday—Dodge Invitational.
“It was so much fun to go out there and play well,’’ said senior middle blocker Anne Martin, who slammed 12 kills and registered four ace blocks Monday. She had 47 kills (.411 hitting efficiency), 12 ace blocks and four ace serves in the Twin Cities Invitational.
“We want to carry that over to the conference tournament,’’ Martin said. “We need rest, but we’d definitely rather win and play than lose and sit.”
Waverly (17-8) has won 11 of its last 12 matches to pop into the Class B rankings at No. 9. The only loss during that string came to second-ranked Northwest over the weekend.
After rolling through the first set against the Bears on Monday, Waverly needed some late heroics in the second and third sets to complete the sweep.
The second set was tied at 22 when Waverly finally got some breathing room with a right-side kill from sophomore Amanda Boender and a free ball termination by Nicole Echtenkamp. A Waverly hitting error saved one set point for Blair to make it 24-23 before Echtenkamp finished it with a left-side kill.
The Vikings had to wipe out three set points against them trailing 24-21 in the third set. Senior left-hander Lauren Wright erased the first with a kill from the left side. Then Martin tied it when she skied for back-to-back kills in the middle over the block off quick sets from Meredith Herring.
A Blair hitting error put Waverly at match point, but Erin Reeh kept the Bears in it with a point-ending tip to tie it. A Bear attack that landed wide, followed by a kill in the middle by Boender, finally ended it.
Boender finished with 12 kills. Herring put up 31 assists to go with two kills and four ace serves.
“I was hoping to get this over in three because Blair was getting better and better as the night went on and we started looking tired out there,” Waverly coach Terri Neujahr said. “It’s always grueling going out there for that tournament and then coming back and playing the conference tournament (first round) on Monday. But the kids love playing out there because we see new teams that we never see during the season.”
Waverly seems to be hitting its stride after what Neujahr described as a “disappointing” start to the season. The Vikings returned four starters and their libero from last year’s 21-12 team. Three of them — Martin, Herring and Wright — are now in their third year as starters.
But Waverly was 6-6 in its first 12 matches. The Vikings split their first two meetings with Platteview, tonight’s opponent.
“We were inconsistent early in the season, but now everything is clicking together,’’ Herring said. “We’ve figured out what we need to do.’’
Martin, a Class B state high jump and long jump champion in track, has turned into an all-state-caliber player with her fast arm swing and ability to attack over the block.
“Those three seniors connect really well,’’ Neujahr said. “Anne is difficult to stop if we get the ball in the right place for her. She’s a great track athlete who’s turned into a great volleyball player.”
Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.
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