SCHS Volleyball Run Ends in Sub State Finals

The South Central volleyball team’s season came to an end in the Sub State tournament at home, after the Lady Timberwolves lost to St. John-Hudson 25-22, 25-18.

South Central beat LaCrosse in three, 23-25, 25-16, 25-17 in the first round while St. John-Hudson beat Meade 25-18, 25-9.

Lady Timberwolves head volleyball coach Cindy Snyder said that the different in the championship match was hitting, in that the Lady Tigers were more consistent with hitting.

“We sent a lot of free balls over toward the middle of that set and then they were hitting the ball right back at us, and if we’re not hitting at this level, it’s hard to win games,” Snyder said.

She agreed with the assessment that the Lady Timberwolves were on defense more than on offense against the Lady Tigers.

“(We were) sending a lot of free balls or tipped balls over at them, which that just set them up to come in and swing at us,” Snyder said. “That put them on the offensive side and we struggled a little bit against that.”

The Lady Timberwolves have faced some strong teams this season, to include South Gray in league play and several teams at the Lyons tournament such as Southeast of Saline, Little River and Sterling.

“We saw some bigger hitters like that, which sometimes that’s hard to simulate in practice when we don’t have girls that consistently can hit like that,” Snyder said. “But, you know, we’re young in a lot of places, so we’ve done pretty well for how young we’re playing on our team.”

The Lady Timberwolves had a slow start against LaCrosse, which Snyder chalked up to nerves.

“Once I kind of got them settled down, then they stepped up and started playing and competing and realizing  they have to swing to play at this level,” she said.

South Central trailed 8-1 in the first game against LaCrosse, but slowly worked its way back into the game, cutting the lead to 13-9. The game remained a four-to-six-point deficit from then on, but when the score was 23-19, the Lady Timberwolves scored twice to cut the lead to 23-21.

The Lady Leopards managed to score point 24, but SCHS came back to cut it to 24-23. However, Piper Price looked to make a play on a ball and it sailed just out of bounds.

But the Lady Timberwolves got back on track in the second game. Trailing LaCrosse 7-6, SCHS got a seven-point serving streak from sophomore Emerie Woolfolk to gives SCHS a 13-7 lead.

The Lady Timberwolves never lost that lead, taking advantage of LaCrosse errors and coming up with key plays. They finished it off when leaving 23-16 after a block, then a kill, from South Central freshman Lyla Girk.

In the third game, it was tied 11-11 before SCHS started to pull away. The Lady Timberwolves got an ace from senior Ellie Murphy and a kill from sophomore Kate Herd, then LaCrosse had a hitting error in the net to make it 14-11.

The Lady Leopards came back to tie the game 16-16, then SCHS took over. After a block by Girk, Woolfolk served five straight points to make it a 22-16 game. Though SCHS had a hitting error, the Lady Timberwolves got back control of the serve after a kill from Murphy, then the senior added two more kills to close out the match.

Against the Lady Tigers, South Central held the early lead, 12-8, in the first game. The Lady Timberwolves took advantage of Lady Tiger errors and got some key plays to build the lead.

But St. John-Hudson came back within two, 14-12, then went on a six-point scoring streak to take the lead, 18-14.

South Central came back, though, going up 20-19, before the Lady Tigers scored to tie the game 20-20. SCHS had another chance to pull away, taking a 22-21 lead, but St. John-Hudson got the final four points to win.

The Lady Timberwolves again held the early lead, 11-8, in the second game. But St. John-Hudson came back to cut the lead to 14-13, then scored three straight points for a 16-14 lead.

This time, the Lady Tigers didn’t let the Lady Timberwolves back in the game. With the score 18-16, the Lady Tigers racked up four straight points, with senior Gentri Bright getting multiple kills in that run.

SCHS trailed 23-17, then got a back-row kill from junior libero Bretlynn Westrup to stay in the game. But after a tipped ball from Bright, St. John-Hudson was able to finish the match after a kill by freshman Carlee Riegel.

South Central finished with a 30-12 overall record and had just two seniors on this year’s squad: Ellie Murphy and Piper Price. Snyder said the two seniors will be missed.

“Both of them are just outstanding young ladies,” she said. “Having them out here as their leadership, they both stepped up into big roles this year and just took on the team being the senior leaders.

“You know, they led these young girls. They were always encouraging to them, which helped those young girls just continue to improve. But we’re going to miss those two girls.”

Snyder added that the younger players showed a lot of improvement during the course of the season. She said their play has been “night and day” from where they started the season to where they were at by season’s end.

“Hats off to them for putting in the work every single day when I came out here,” Snyder said. “We would sit there and break down hitting, break down passing, and they just absorbed all of that and just continued to just improve each day out, each night out, which gets us where we’re at today.”

She expects the players who return next season will continue to improve.

“I think where we ended and then bringing that into the summer when we go play summer league and go to team camp into next season, they’re going to just keep improving, and that’s going to be great,” Snyder said.

“Most of the time, those freshmen, it seems like they come in their sophomore year, and that light bulb just gets really bright, and it’s just kind of like everything falls into place, and they get it all put together. So I think our future is pretty bright with South Central.”