Freeman wins 2nd straight MUDECAS title

The Freeman Falcons captured their second consecutive MUDECAS volleyball championship Thursday night.

Freeman showed why they were the top seed in the A Division, sweeping No. 3 seed Bruning-Davenport-Shickley 25-18, 25-18. The Falcons won all three of their tournament matches by sweep and have improved to 13-1 on the season.

Freeman head coach Lexi Holland said the first couple weeks of the season have been about trying to stay healthy and find the right lineup.

"This is the start for us and this is going to give us confidence," Holland said. "Coming in, we wanted to (win MUDECAS) again and we had the vision to to it again and we did it."

BDS' only momentum of the match came in the first set when they jumped out to an early 12-7 lead. They still led 16-10 before Freeman started making their move.

Back-to-back kills by Alicia Johansen and Addiston Kastanek as well as an ace serve by Johansen highlighted a 4-0 run to make it 16-14, forcing BDS into their first timeout.

BDS scored a point out of the timeout, but three consecutive kills by Kastanek ignited a huge 10-0 run for Freeman. Shiloh Wallman was serving during the pivotal run and had three aces in that stretch, which put Freeman ahead 24-17.

The Eagles finally ended the run with a point, but Kastanek would register another kill to put the set away 25-18.

Holland said role players stepped up and played well during that game-changing 10-0 run in the first set.

"Our role players played really well," Holland said. "Our servers came in and did their job and Shiloh (Wallman's) serving really boosted our confidence. It was a team effort and everybody played their role and did a good job."

Freeman got off to a much better start in the second set, building an 8-4 lead early behind two kills by Kastanek and a kill each from Aniston Bartunek and Reagan Rinne.

BDS was back within one at 12-11, but a 4-0 run that included two kills and an ace serve by Johansen made it 16-11, forcing the Eagles to take their second timeout.

The Eagles worked back to within two at 19-17, but a 5-0 run made it 24-17. Lily Wiese had two kills during that run and also combined for a block with Johansen.

BDS ended the run with a point, but a kill by Johansen put the set away 25-18, giving Freeman the 2-0 win.

Holland said winning MUDECAS was a goal for the Falcons, but said they still have many more to accomplish.

"This is just step one in our journey," Holland said. "We did it here and this is just going to give us confidence and keep us going. We still have a lot of things to fine-tune, but this is just the start."

In other A Division games on Thursday, Johnson-Brock won their third place match over Johnson County Central 25-22, 26-24. Palmyra won their consolation match over Diller-Odell 25-18, 25-17.

First team

Alicia Johansen, Freeman

Campbell Bohling, BDS

Ruby Goes, Freeman

Hayley Bohling, BDS

Aniston Bartunek, Freeman

Taryn Ottemann, Johnson-Brock

Honorable Mention

Haylie Vollman, Palmyra

Charlotte Metschke, Johnson-Brock

Ashley Beethe, JCC

Rilyn Otto, Freeman