After a long three set battle with Milford in the opening round of the Syracuse Invite, the Nebraska City Pioneers came back to win the consolation game in Syracuse on Monday night. The Pioneers beat Ralston in three sets to claim the victory.
The Pioneers put together their most efficient offensive performance of the season hitting .318 against the Eagles in the first match of the night. Halle Thompson (13), Laney Denniston (12) and Katie Schreiter (10) were responsible for 35 kills in the match. Defensively, five different Pioneers cracked double digit digs in the match. Coach Kuntz noted this was by far the most complete performance of the season. “After a rough showing Saturday at Raymond Central, it was nice to see the girls respond the way they did. We are still putting the pieces together after getting the team back from injuries during the first part of the season. We are looking to win October and make sure we are playing our best ball at the end of the season.” In the first set, Nebraska City got off to a slow start finding themselves down 7-13 at a timeout. Out of the time out they took a 14-13 lead with a serving run from Laney Denniston. Midway through the set the Pioneers took control and pushed for a 25-21 first set victory. In the second set, it was a dogfight to the end, neither team pulling away by more than three points at any certain time. Unfortunately, the Eagles won the battle 26-24. The third set was much the same as the second until mid way through. The game was tied at 16-16 when the Eagles began to score out of the middle and caused a few defensive breakdowns for the Pioneers. The final score of the third set was 25-18 in favor of the Eagles. In the second match of the night the Pioneers beat Ralston 26-28, 25-15, 25-18. The first set started very rough for the Pioneers as they found themselves down 10-3 early on. After climbing back into the set it was a back and forth battle, but the Rams were able to hold off the comeback from the Pioneers. The final two sets of the match were easily controlled by the Pioneers as their transition and ball control proved to be the difference between the two teams as they pushed for the victory. Once again, it was Katie Schreiter (13), Halle Thompson (12) and Laney Denniston (10) leading the way for the Pioneers offensively. Each of those girls finished with over 20 kills on the night, while Casey Smith finished with 59 assists between the two matches. The Pioneers put together two of their best defensive matches back to back and finished with 140 digs on the night averaging out to 23 digs per set. The Pioneers take the floor again this Saturday in Beatrice for the Trailblazer Conference Tournament. |
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September 2022
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