The Nebraska Capitol Conference (NCC) Volleyball Tournament started Monday at Fort Calhoun High School with what had the makings of a first-set upset.
The one-win Arlington Eagles (1-23 overall) led the host Pioneers (11-16) 19-12 early on Izzy Nuss' second-straight ace serve, but wound up on the short end of a three-set loss. FCHS won 26-24, 25-22 and 25-13 before dropping their second-round conference matchup with Yutan on Tuesday.
First, though, Calhoun righted itself and beat its Washington County neighbor for the second time this fall.
“For one, I think we just needed to warm up a little bit,” Pioneers coach Liz Sevcik said.
Establishing focus on serves helped, but a highlight attack acted as a catalyst, too.
“We got a big swing in there,” Sevcik said. “Raegen (Wells), when she fires off a nice hit that cheers everybody up, it raises everybody's level of play.”
First, though, service aces by Peyton Timm, Taylor Arp and Nuss — as well as a Macy Wolf kill — propelled the visiting Eagles into the lead.
“We've been working hard at starting from ball one and they executed that perfectly,” Arlington coach Stacy Nelson said. “They executed their serving plan, and just continued to communicate and work well together.”
Fort Calhoun didn't accept its down position in the match, though. Olivia Quinlan's kill finally evened the set at 23-23 before her teammate, Abbey Lienemann, gave the home squad a one-point advantage with a soft tap over an AHS block and the net. To cap the Pioneers' 1-0 match start, Wells and Grace Genoways scored back-to-back kills.
Had the Eagles been able to pull off the first-set win, Nelson believed her team would have carried the momentum into the second. Without it, however, FCHS built a 6-0 lead with Quinlan serving.
A Lienemann kill to the back corner produced a 13-8 lead, too, before Arlington put together its own rally. An Arp ace pulled her team within 20-16 before a Shelby Dorau kill and Mollie Dierks' ace produced the Pioneers' 23-18 response. Wells later beat an AHS block for the two-set lead.
The Eagles then fell behind again in the third, but were unable to muster a comeback. Sophomore substitute Taylor Stewart notched a kill at 23-13 and her FCHS squad advanced in the NCC Tournament with a 3-0 sweep.
“They played really well,” Sevcik said. “They took care of business.”
Coach Nelson, meanwhile, stuck with her Eagles in defeat.
“They're a great team,” she said. “Just need them to continue to see it and believe it, day-in and day-out.”
Yutan sweeps the Pioneers
FCHS lost during the next NCC tournament round, 3-0. Yutan improved to 23-4 with the 25-9, 25-11 and 25-9 win.
The Pioneers, meanwhile, dropped five games under .500. They were scheduled to play a consolation match Thursday as was Arlington. Results will appear in next Tuesday's Washington County Pilot-Tribune.
