Papillion-LaVista South, Torrey Pines, Assumption split at Battle on the Plains

The triangular volleyball match featuring the nation's top three high school volleyball teams lived up to its billing Wednesday night as No. 1 beat No. 2, No. 2 beat No. 3 and No. 3 beat No. 1.

That's right. Top-ranked Papillion-LaVista South (Papillion, Neb.) beat second-ranked Torrey Pines (San Diego), but lost to third-ranked Assumption (Louisville, Ky.). Torrey Pines started the evening by beating Assumption.

And in the process, the event known as the Nfinity Battle on the Plains set is what is believed to be a national attendance record for a high school volleyball match, with a sold out and standing room-only crowd of 2,592 at Creighton University's Sokol Arena in Omaha, Neb.

"We didn't play that great, which was a bummer, but we learned a lot about ourselves," said Torrey Pines coach Brennan Dean. "What a great experience and what a great venue. Just playing in front of that many people and playing away so that when we travel to state they know how to play in this environment."



In all, the boisterous crowd saw some of the best high school volleyball ever played in Nebraska. In the opening contest of the evening, No. 2 ranked Torrey Pines defeated Assumption, 2-0 (25-21, 26-24). It was the second time this month that Torrey Pines defeated Assumption, the first being 2-1 in the finals of the Durango Invitational in Las Vegas 11 days ago.

In the evening's second match in the 2,500-seat arena, host Papillion-La Vista South's 97-match win streak came to an end against Assumption. The Titans, ranked No. 1 nationally, were defeated by the No. 3 ranked Rockets, 2-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-19). The Titans have been atop the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings presented by the Army National Guard for nearly two years.

"The win streak is over, but I'd rather do this and play these kinds of teams every time," Titans coach Gwen Egbert said. "This was good for us."

The Nebraska state record for consecutive wins is 115.

In the late match, Papillion-La Vista South defeated Torrey Pines, 2-1 ( 21-25, 25-15, 25-18).

LaVista South, winners of the last two Nebraska Class A championships, falls to 16-1 this season, while Torrey Pines is 11-1 and Assumption is 27-2.
 
Torrey Pines entered the triangular with six Division-I recruits. Assumption, which has won four national titles and 16 Kentucky state titles over the past 20 years, has five D-I recruits and Papillion LaVista-South has three.
 
Dean said, "Everybody did what I expected. The twins for Nebraska played great. They are great kids. No surprises from anyone."



Asked if he would have a difficult time getting his team ready for league matches next week against Poway and Rancho Bernardo, he said, "I'm not worried at all about their focus. This was good for us."

Next up for LaVista-South is Bellevue East, while Assumption travels to Chicago with a goal of defending its title in the prestigious Asics Challenge.

Now the question everyone was hoping would be clearly identified Wednesday still remains: Who is No. 1?