Young Central Valley squad makes D-2 semis

LINCOLN – The bright lights of the state volleyball tournament at Pinnacle Bank Arena didn't faze a young Central Valley squad.

Instead the Class D-2, No. 5-rated Cougars (Omaha World-Herald) shined in its opening match during a 25-19, 25-14, 25-20 win over No. 6 Amherst Thursday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The victory puts Central Valley into the state semifinals against No. 3 Leyton at 9 a.m. Friday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The freshman duo of Maggie Kriewald and Bentleigh Dugan led the Cougars with 14 and 11 kills respectively, while sophomore Cayle Grossart added 10. Sophomore setter Annaka Wood had seven kills and dished out 34 assists.

CV coach Diane Kasselder said it was really a team effort.

"Our two freshmen played like upperclassmen today but everybody did their part," Kasselder said. "Annaka even got some kills for us and she wants to get those kills."

If Central Valley was ever fazed, it was during the start of the match when Mackenzie Cochran served the match's first eight points with three ace serves to give Amherst the early advantage.

"I just told the kids to calm down," Kasselder said. "We had a hard time passing the ball early because of nerves. They really settled down."

That they did. Dugan later served a 6-0 run to help give the Cougars an 11-10 lead.

Then after that, Central Valley did pretty much what it wanted, especially from the service line. The Cougars had only four ace serves but the serving did enough to disrupt Amherst from getting into its offense. That allowed the Broncos to pass over free balls which led to many attacks for Central Valley, especially to Kriewald, who ended the first two sets with kills.

Dugan did most of the serving damage with 23 points and three ace serves. She served a 6-0 run to end the first set, then had a 3-0 run in the second for a 10-2 lead. In the third, she had a 7-0 run that turned an 8-3 deficit into a 10-8 advantage. After recording a kill, she served the final point when Amherst made an error.

"We want to start hitting from the service line," Kasselder said. "If we hit it out, we hit it out. The girls take the concept and just run with it."

Lucy Van Ranken led the Broncos with 10 kills, but no one else had more than three kills.

Amherst coach Jonie Fader said the Broncos had a hard time getting anything going against Central Valley after the 8-0 start.

"They have some nice athletic kids that can jump and swing hard. We didn't close our block, Fader said. "And they had us in scramble mode all match. That made it hard for us to find our offensive rhythm and our execution just broke down."

Now it's onto the state semifinals for the Cougars against Leyton. Kasselder said there's excitement about playing in the semifinals, but Central Valley wants more.

"Leyton is consistent, scrappy and doesn't want to lose," Kasselder said. "It will take the same kind of effort to win tomorrow. We need to be able to prepare for whatever comes and be ready for that. We're happy to be going to the semifinals but the players and I want to go to the finals and win it. That's really the goal for everybody.

"And I think I have the crew to do that because they love to play ball. If we play within ourselves, I think we can give everybody a run. Last year, we were just happy to be here and this year we want to prove that we belong."

Fader said she feels confident about Central Valley's chances in the semifinals.

"I think they are going to do well in the next round and make the championship game," Fader said.

Central Valley 3, Amherst 0

Amherst;19;14;20

Central Valley;25;25;25

AMHERST (Kills-aces-blocks) – Mackenzie Cochran 0-3-0, Londyn Mitchell 0-0-0, AnDee Jaixon 0-1-0, Brynne Fisher 3-2-0, Adalee Simmons 4-0-0, Keelie Hagan 3-1-3, Kenna Hagan 0-0-0, Sadie Van Rankin 0-0-1, Libby Mitchell 2-0-0, Lucy Van Ranken 10-0-0, Breckyn Veskernat 0-0-0

CENTRAL VALLEY (Kills-aces-blocks) – Emma Corman 0-0-0, Taylor McIntyre 1-0-1, Annaka Wood 7-0-1, Bentleigh Dugan 11-3-1, Callie Wadas 5-0-0, Maggie Kriewald 14-0-0, Cayle Grossart 10-1-1.

SET ASSISTS - A: Cochran 15, Ken. Hagan 5. CV: Wood 34, Wadas 2, Grossart 1.