Amber Rolfzen (5), Whitney Kostal (2), Kelly Hunter (3), Katie Kurtz (9) and Megan Stroyek (8) all celebrate a Papillion-LaVista South victory in a titanic regular-season matchup.
Photo by Dean Backes
If she didn't already know it,
Papillion-LaVista South (Papillion, Neb.) volleyball coach Gwen Egbert discovered Wednesday how resilient her top-ranked squad is.
Whitney Kostal (12) and Megan Stroyekof Papillion-LaVista South blockSt. James Academy's Arianna Person.
Photo by Dean Backes
The defending Nebraska Class A state champion Titans, already down one
set to No. 7
St. James Academy (Lenexa, Kan.), trailed 10-1 in the second game. Then they rallied for the set win
and eventually won the match in a five-game thriller, 22-25, 25-23, 17-25, 26-24, 15-12 in front of an
estimated 1,200 fans at St. James Academy.
"We are pretty tough," Egbert said. "We could have packed it in in that second game. We were down 10-1 and we came back and competed. They have a lot of pride and they like to win and they stepped it up. We could have easily said, ‘OK, let's go away, let's ride it out until the next game.' It's really great for our team that we didn't do that. That means we're learning and we're growing."
With the win over the Kansas three-time defending Class 4A state champion Thunder, Papillion-LaVista South improves to 23-0 on the year, while St. James Academy's winning streak stops at 41 matches and its 2011 record dips to 28-1. The Titans, meanwhile, extended their win streak to 64 matches.
The physical differences between the two teams were glaring, but there were plenty of similarities as well. Papillion-LaVista South brought a lot of size and power to the table. Eight Titans stood at least 5-foot-11, including 6-3 junior twins
Kadie Rolfzen and
Amber Rolfzen, who will be Nebraska bound along with teammate
Kelly Hunter and Thunder Libero
Sheridan Zarda following the completion of their high school careers.
The Thunder, on the other hand, live and feed off of their speed and quickness on defense and their uncanny ability to keep the ball from hitting the playing surface. Their tallest player is 6-1 senior middle
Katie Dulek. At 5-11, Thunder middles
Kayla Guyot and
Brianna Lewis are Nancy Dorsey's only other players at that height or taller.
Papillion-LaVista South feature storyAs different as St. James Academy and Papillion-LaVista are on the court, both relatively new clubs are very good at what they do.
"We knew we weren't going to steamroll them," Zarda said. "We knew they were tough. We knew that for sure.
Annie Reilly of St. James Academytries to hit through Katie Kurtz(left) and Megan Stroyek ofPapillion-LaVista South.
Photo by Dean Backes
"We were excited for the competition and we knew as soon as we lost focus they were going to come at us big, and that's exactly what they did. They're a great team. They block very, very well. Height does help, but our defense played pretty well tonight and I was excited about that."
Papillion-LaVista South outside Amber Rolfzen admitted that the Titans did get a little frustrated early on with the Thunder's ability to pull everything off the floor.
"But we knew coming in that they would do that," she said. "They are a very good defensive team. We like that because it's nice to have other people dig you besides getting a kill every time. It makes you get better on your side of the net."
St. James Academy feature storyIn the first game, Papillion-LaVista South jumped out to a 3-1 advantage. But the Titans were forced to call a time out following five straight points by the Thunder behind the hitting of
Arianna Person. Mental errors then hurt the Titans as they fell behind by a 9-3 count.
A service error ended St. James Academy's run, but then the hosts pulled out to an 18-9 advantage before the Titans rallied to tie the score at 20-20. A hitting error, serve receiving error and a kill by
Katie Dulek allowed the Thunder to go up 23-20. A kill by Person handed the first game to the Thunder 25-22.
The Thunder took a 10-1 lead in the second game as well, but the Titans came storming back, and following
Kelly Hunter's kill, the game was square at 21-all. Kadie Rolfzen and
Annie Reilly traded kills before a pair of hitting errors allowed Papillion-LaVista South to go up 24-22.
A Titan communication gaffe allowed St. James Academy to cut the deficit to a single point again before Amber Rolfzen's kill knotted the match at one game apiece.
"We don't quit," Amber Rolfzen said. "When we were down 10-1, we kept passing, kept hitting and kept playing our game. We just came back and we always play together."
After trading shots for the better part of the third game, the Thunder extended an 11-11 tie out to a 21-13 advantage. Papillion-LaVista South cut the deficit to 21-17 before terrific net play allowed the Thunder to win 25-17, placing the nation's top-ranked squad into a precarious position.
The Titans jumped out to a 16-12 advantage in the fourth set before the Thunder pulled to within 20-19. A kill by Person knotted the score at 20-20.
Rachel Nelson's kill and a Thunder hitting error then allowed the Titans to go up 22-20.
St. James Academy rallied twice to tie the score at 22 and 24 before
Megan Stroyek buried a kill and earned a combo stuff block along with
Katie Kurtz, giving the defending MaxPreps National Champion Titans a 26-24 win and forcing a fifth set.
Papillion-LaVista South jumped out to a 13-6 advantage in the rubber game and had to hold on as the hosts closed to within 13-12. Egbert's squad then finished off the Thunder.
"The only way to describe it is amazing," Amber Rolfzen said. "The past two and a half weeks we've been preparing for this match. We came into the match wanting to get better as a team and to get prepared for future matches. Winning made it that much better."
