Gutsy Rally Against Papillion-LaVista South Allows Millard North to Remain Undefeated
Emma O’Neill of Papillion-LaVista South tries to roll a shot over the block of Millard North’s McKenna Ruch (left) and Molly Plahn (right) during Tuesday night’s match. (Photo by Berk Brown) PAPILLION – With her team trailing Papillion-LaVista South 2-1…
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Continue ReadingEmma O’Neill of Papillion-LaVista South tries to roll a shot over the block of Millard North’s McKenna Ruch (left) and Molly Plahn (right) during Tuesday night’s match. (Photo by Berk Brown)
PAPILLION – With her team trailing Papillion-LaVista South 2-1 on Tuesday night, Millard North coach Lindsay Petersen looked at her squad that had won all 13 of its previous matches this season and channeled her inner Bon Jovi.
Petersen told her team that if the Mustangs (14-0) were going to go down, it was going to be – in essence – in a Blaze of Glory. Indeed, as Class A #1 Millard North came out guns a blazing after the third set and rallied for a 16-25, 27-25, 20-25, 25-11, 15-10 victory over #3 Papillion-LaVista South (4-4).
“In set four, I just said, ‘hey, if you’re going to get beat, get beat working hard, not giving up on balls and playing together,'” Petersen said.
That clearly worked as the Mustangs steamrolled through the fourth set. The fifth set, however, was much, much tighter.
With the score tied at nine, Papillion-LaVista South freshman Ava LeGrand put the Titans on top 10-9 with her 13th kill of the match. Millard North’s Molly Plahn tied it at 10 with a cross-court shot on the slide and a back-row kill from Paige Holdsworth put the Mustangs up 11-10.
Millard North setter Izzy Lukens perfectly executed a setter dump to make it 12-10 and then Omaha recruit McKenna Ruch finished it off with a block and two kills on the final three rallies of the match.
Papillion-LaVista South coach Brad Reichmuth said he could see the Mustangs get more aggressive late in the match.
“They became way more aggressive and when things are clicking for them they are very, very hard to stop,” he said. “There are just too many powerful weapons. I feel like we play pretty good defense, but some of the balls they hit we weren’t even close to.”
Petersen called Papillion-LaVista South “hands down” the best defensive team they’ve seen all year. She also said Titan setter Mara LeGrand had her blockers flustered for much of the match.
“This is the first time I’ve seen my blockers get duped and that was because (LeGrand’s) hands are so good,” Petersen said. “That was by far the best defensive team we’ve seen.”
Holdsworth had a team-high 17 kills for the Mustangs as well as 17 digs while Ruch finished with 15 kills and 16 digs and Allie Kerns had 12 kills. Plahn had a career-high 10 kills for Millard North and Emmy Grant had nine kills and 2 1/2 blocks. Lukens finished with 55 assists, three kills and 15 digs and Emma Altman had a match-high 33 digs.
For Papillion-LaVista South, Jessica Hendrix had 20 kills while Ava LeGrand had 13 to go with 12 digs. Sophie Hendrix had nine kills and 24 digs while Leah Palensky had 27 digs. Mara LeGrand had 46 assists, five kills and two ace serves.