The second-to-last kill of Grace Genoways' Fort Calhoun High School volleyball career was credited to classmate Olivia Quinlan by the Douglas County West announcer Monday.
On a night that ended in tears, it was an opportunity for the two seniors to laugh.
“I thought it was really funny because the announcer did it to Shelby (Dorau) and Liv earlier,” Genoways said. “So, every time Shelby would get a kill, we'd say, 'Yeah! Go Liv!'”
The senior middle hitter, Quinlan and Tilden Nottlemann all played their final matches Monday during the Class C1-3 Subdistrict Tournament hosted by the 27-3 Falcons. In an effort coach Liz Sevcik applauded, the Pioneers beat Boys Town 3-0, but lost to their top-seeded hosts 25-16, 25-11 and 25-12.
“I'm happy, but it's always hard to lose,” Quinlan said. “Especially when it's your last game.”
FCHS played well defensively in her eyes, capping a 13-20 season that concluded with nine more wins than the previous season last fall. The improvement from their 11th- to 12th-grade campaigns meant a lot to the seniors.
“It's amazing because, last year, I remember feeling so defeated after subdistricts and not wanting to play again,” Genoways said.
“It's really nice to be, like, 'We weren't that team we were last year,'” Quinlan noted. “We have more weapons on the team and we were able to do things that we couldn't have ever imagined last year.”
Those weapons helped produce a 25-8, 25-5, 25-3 sweep of Boys Town in FCHS' postseason opener Monday. Quinlan starred, though, tying her own school record for service aces in a match with 12. She also broke Audra Meador's 2007 record for aces in season (51) against Boys Town, finishing with 61 this fall.
Two Genoways aces, meanwhile, helped the Pioneers pull within 9-8 against DC West during the opening set. A Dorau kill and a Ruby Garmong ace then evened the subdistrict semifinals match at 10-10.
The Falcons took control back, though, going on a 15-6 run to close out the 1-0 lead. After Quinlan tied the second set at 5-all with a kill to the back line, DC West went ahead 2-0 despite kills by Fort Calhoun's Madison Buczkowski, Raegen Wells and Dorau.
Abbey Lienemann's attack then gave the Pioneers a 1-0 third-set lead, but the Falcons, again, wrangled away control with Aubree Liss and 6-foot-4 Nora Wurtz leading the way. The pair notched 17 combined kills for the match.
Toward the end, the announcer credited Genoways' second-to-last kill to Quinlan before relaying her name to the crowd on the final one with her team behind 16-9.
With FCHS' season complete, Nottlemann said she'll miss the friends she made through volleyball.
“If no one planned a team dinner, we always planned one last minute,” the senior said. “We'd always find something random to do, and, I don't know, I just knew I could always rely on them.”
“It's going to be really hard to leave these guys,” Genoways added.
After just four wins in 2021, though, the Class of 2023 leaves with their heads held high.
“I'm proud of how we played,” Nottlemann said. “And we'll see what happens next.”
