The South Sioux City Cardinals and the Schuyler Warriors stood in the way of the Blair High School volleyball team and the district finals Tuesday.
Last season, the Bears fell short in the same circumstances.
A year later, though, coach Becca Mellema's team swept past both Class B-4 Subdistrict Tournament foes in Schuyler, earning their spot in the last round of competition before state tournament play.
“We kind of knew that we had something that we had to do because of last year,” BHS senior Savanah Roan said. “We felt like playing here instead of home was going to help us a little bit.”
The road environment kept the Bears (10-21 overall) alert and focused. They played the minimum amount of sets to advance as a result.
First, BHS beat South Sioux City 25-16, 25-21 and 25-22 inside a nearly empty gymnasium.
“I feel like it was really awkward in here,” senior Peyton Ogle said through a wide smile. “The gym was really quiet in the first game.”
It was an up-and-down match for the Bears as a result, though they did earn the sweep. Freshman Madeline Chikos had a pair of kills down the stretch of the first set, leading her squad to victory.
In the second, a Hailey Roewert service ace broke a 13-13 tie. From there, Roan added her own ace at 18-15 before kills by Taylor Mostek and Nicki Wendt took BHS' lead to 24-20 before set point.
Finally, during the third set, Emma Ammon's block evened the score at 10-10 well before Ogle's kill set up match point. The Bears finished off the sweep, too, setting up the subdistrict final against the host Warriors.
“We definitely came out very slow,” Roan said. “We took our time getting into those games, and as soon as we hit Schuyler, we were on top of it.”
The home squad's boisterous crowd actually helped the road team, Ogle noted.
“As the gym got louder and we got more comfortable in the space, we definitely brought more energy, which just helps us play better as a team,” she said.
Mostek's ace forced a Warrior timeout at 17-11 of the first set before Roewert and Ammon combined on a block for match point, 25-16.
Blair won the next set, too, 25-9. Schuyler took timeouts trailing 8-2 and 13-2 before Ammon's block made it 20-9. Mostek added a kill late, too, as the Bears took a 2-0 lead.
“We played good as a team,” Ogle said. “We really connected.”
The third set between BHS and the Warriors wasn't close either until coach Mellema emptied her bench late. Even so, the Bears won it 25-21.
“We were just able to play our level of volleyball on our side,” Ogle said.
Next, though, Blair will need to up its level of play during the district finals round. It was scheduled to play at a top seed Saturday, though matchups and start times were unavailable as of press time.
“We just have to have a really good mindset,” Roan said. “We have to make sure we're connecting on everything.”
BHS VOLLEYBALL LINE SCORES
Tuesday
Blair 3, Schuyler 0
BHS (10-21) 25 25 25 — 3
SCHS (9-19) 16 9 21 — 0
Blair 3, South Sioux City 0
SSC (5-24) 16 21 22 — 0
BHS (9-21) 25 25 25 — 0
