March 29, 2024

L-S volleyball too much for Baxter in regional opener

SULLY — With the match all square at one set apiece, Lynnville-Sully's volleyball team nearly lost a big lead in the third set.

Baxter rallied to take a small advantage late in the set, but the host Hawks recovered to edge the Bolts in a momentum-changing win.

The Bolts struggled to recover in the fourth set and Lynnville-Sully closed out its guests in four sets to advance in the first round of the Class 1A Region 4 tournament on Monday.

The Hawks eliminated Baxter 25-13, 17-25, 25-23, 25-16 to improve to 12-7 on the season. The Bolts retired at 9-12.

"Anytime you can have a lead and push through it, it gives you momentum for the next game," Lynnville-Sully coach Kyra Smith said. "We needed that one. Baxter brought a ton of energy. They were ready to play so we needed that momentum."

Lynnville-Sully advances to the regional quarterfinals where it will face BCLUW at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Conrad. The Comets swept Collins-Maxwell in their first-round match.

Monday's victory by the Hawks was very similar to the match they won on the road against Baxter on Sept. 1. The two teams split the first two sets on that night and the Hawks took the final two to win in four.

The Hawks came out firing in the opening set in the latest meeting, leading by as many as 12. L-S broke open a close set when Krystal Van Dyke collected two kills and a block to give the Hawks a 10-5 advantage.

Then, Korinne Jansen took over. She ended the 11-0 run with three kills and added two more to put her team up 21-10 later in the game.

Baxter couldn't get closer than nine the rest of the way.

The Bolts flipped the script in the second set. Breaking free from a tight start, Baxter turned an 11-all tie into a 16-11 lead following three straight aces by setter Allison Colyn.

The Hawks played from behind the rest of the way, and a block and a kill by Hallee Rainsbarger kept them within arm's length. Maggie Schabilion's ace and Sophie Meyer's kill ended the set and evened the match.

"The girls said they had a lot of nerves," Baxter coach Marie Stefani said. "The energy was better in the second set and they were able to play through some stuff."

The Bolts got up early in the third frame as Mandee Selover and Schabilion each had a pair of kills and an ace by Meyer put the Bolts in front 6-2.

But L-S rallied as consecutive aces by Cally Gibbs tied it and then a free-ball kill by Van Dyke put the Hawks in front 9-6. Another free-ball blast by Van Dyke extended the advantage to 13-7.

Van Dyke added two more kills and Denali Conover had an ace to push the lead to 16-8.

Baxter rallied behind Meyer as she returned to the front row and recorded four kills to melt the deficit to 18-16.

The final two kills came on Colyn's long service run. She started her serve with the Bolts down 18-14 and ended it in a 19-all tie.

Baxter held a brief 19-18 lead on a Julie Damman kill, but L-S recovered to jump back in front with five straight points.

Another kill and an ace by Meyer got the Bolts within one at 23-22, but a net violation and a Conover blast gave the Hawks an important narrow victory in the third set.

"It would have been nice to get that one and had we gotten it the next one might have been different," Stefani said. "It was big to come all the way back and then lose by two."

The momentum did stay with the Hawks in the fourth set. They broke a 2-all tie with strong play at the net by Van Dyke and Conover.

The senior duo led a 12-0 run with seven combined kills. Baxter tried to rally as a pair of kills by Schabilion got the Bolts closer, but two more kills and an ace by Van Dyke made it 19-9.

Back-to-back aces by Meyer helped Baxter get within six, but L-S closed out the set and match by scoring five of the next seven points.

"Baxter kept their energy up the whole first game even though we won the set," Smith said. "They wanted it more than we did in that second game. They just had a lot more energy than we did.

"Energy is a big part of volleyball so we'll work on getting that up. We got there eventually."

Setter Cayler Noun Harder and Conover each had double-doubles to lead the Hawks. Noun Harder finished with 21 assists and 16 digs and Conover had 10 kills, 13 digs and three aces.

Van Dyke recorded a team-high 11 kills and six blocks and also had five digs and two aces.

Jansen put down five of her eight kills in the opening set and added nine digs in the match.

"It's super important to have options because it's hard to defend," Smith said. "We need everyone to be on every single night and we don't always get that. Against the teams we are about to play, we are going to need evergy girl."

Jaden Brand tallied three assists and eight digs, Gibbs chipped in six digs, two assists and four aces and Lily Zylstra secured nine digs. Aliya James had four digs.

The Hawks served up 10 aces and were 79-of-84 in serves. Gibbs served 24-of-26, Conover was 17-of-17, Jansen 15-of-15 and Noun Harder was 10-of-10.

Lynnville-Sully had 16 hitting errors and five missed serves. Baxter recorded 24 hitting errors and served 63-of-78.

The Bolts did have 14 aces, led by Colyn and Meyer who had five each.

Meyer finished with a double-double, tallying a match-high 12 kills and 11 digs. Colyn chipped in 28 assists, eight digs, two kills and two blocks.

Schabilion started slow but finished with nine kills and eight digs, Rainsbarger put down three kills and added six blocks and three digs and Selover finished with two kills and five blocks.

Baxter libero Maddie Pierce recorded a match-high 30 digs, Damman had two kills and two digs, Lexi Samson added four blocks and Lilyan Headlee secured three digs.