Lietuvninkas, Benet upend Neuqua Valley

Last season as a junior, Benet Academy's Lina Lietuvninkas was relegated to a spectator on the bench while a senior-laden Redwings team was claiming the Class 4A title.

Now the 5-foot-9 middle hitter gets her chance to start for Benet and she's been making the most of the opportunity. In Thursday's tight, three-game win over Neuqua Valley, Lietuvninkas helped the hosts bounce back after dropping the opener to outlast the Wildcats 23-25, 25-21, 25-13.

With Lietuvninkas contributing 9 kills and fellow new starter Lauren Berns adding 7 kills, Benet (7-1) mixed up its attack and worked around a strong outside block by the Wildcats (5-3).

Five of Lietuvninkas' winners came in the second game as the Redwings evened up the match. She had back-to-back kills for an 8-5 lead and later tipped a winner over the Neuqua block that fell for a 20-17 lead.

"I felt real good that game," Lietuvninkas said of the 25-21 triumph that got the defensing champs back on track. "I just tried to hit my shots and be successful for the team."

The Wildcats got a big night on defense from Nora Meehan, who had 27 digs and also served real well. Kora Kauling and Claire Grove each added 8 kills to lead a balanced attack, and it was a big swing by Grove that closed out the opener.

But after the Redwings pulled out the middle game they jumped ahead in the decisive set 4-0 and 10-5 and Neuqua seemed to get rattled, leading to several more mistakes down than stretch than they had committed in the first two games.

Five straight errors turned a 14-9 Benet lead into an insurmountable 19-9 advantage. The Redwings, who beat Neuqua in two games at their tourney early this season, then closed out the match.

"We had too many errors," Wildcats coach Kelly Simon said. "We've been working on a lot of things since then and over the course of the past two weeks, but tonight we just had a few too many errors that made the difference.

"But we're not satisfied with saying, 'Oh we went three with Benet.' We won the first game and the girls are very disappointed we're walking out of here tonight with a loss. But they know that the things they are working on are improving."

The Redwings went with a new look as Tiffany Clark went from libero to the outside, and the senior star had 10 kills and 14 digs. Libero Lauren Barnes paced the defense with 18 digs on the night.