Hampshire notches big win over rival Burlington Central
Most any volleyball coach will tell you that serve and serve receive are the two most important factors in any match.
On Wednesday night in Hampshire, the host Whip-Purs had their game going, and visiting Burlington Central didn't.
The Whip-Purs played consistently all night long, never allowing Burlington Central to get into any kind of flow en route to a 25-23, 25-21 win in a match that was, for now at least, a passing of the torch of the top spot in the Big Northern East. It was also a matchup of programs that have brought home state runner-up trophies from Redbird Arena the last two seasons - Hampshire in Class 2A in 2007 and Burlington Central in Class 3A last year.
"Let's give them the credit," said BC coach Marv Leavitt, whose team has won the last two BN-E titles. "They won the battle of serve and serve receive and we weren't balanced tonight. We didn't get our middles involved at all."
The Rockets were at an emotional disadvantage, and it showed. They had dedicated the match to classmate Jerry Martinez, the Central student who was killed in an auto accident last week and whose funeral was held Wednesday. In a show of class Hampshire sisters Amy and Kara Wehrs, who are club teammates with BC standout Stephanie Holthus, took time after the match to console their friend.
"We were playing for Jerry," said Rockets' senior Taylor Scully. "(Hampshire) was a little more focused than us on the floor. They outserved us tonight and our serve receive just kind of shut down."
The Rockets (13-6, 4-1) led Game 1 by a 10-8 score when, with Amy Wehrs at the serving line, Hampshire went on a 6-0 run and took a 14-10 lead. Kara Wehrs had 2 kills and Amy served 2 aces in the spurt, which gave the Whips (15-2, 5-0) a lead they never relinquished. BC did tie the game at 17 but with senior Jennifer Hubbe serving Hampshire went ahead 20-17 and the Rockets couldn't catch up.
Fueled by the momentum of the Game 1 win and a good-sized noisy home crowd, the Whips jumped ahead 4-2 in Game 2 and never looked back. Even though the Rockets did forge one tie, at 10-10, Hampshire was clearly the aggressor and opened up as much as a 19-13 lead before the Rockets could bounce back. BC closed to within 19-17 but, with Hubbe at the line again, Hampshire made it 22-17 and Central wouldn't get closer than 2 points the rest of the way.
The Whips closed out the match when an Amy Wehrs kill not only gave her and the Whips the serve but also put things at match point. The Kansas-bound senior standout fired an ace in front of Scully to close out the win for Hampshire.
"Burlington's always our rival but it's our home court and we were definitely focused on playing our best," said Amy Wehrs, who had 11 kills and 5 aces. "We came out focused on our serving and receiving and our fans helped us tremendously tonight. We have a lot of seniors this year and we're determined to make it our best year and have fun."
Kara Wehrs added 8 kills and 14 assists for the Whip-Purs, while junior Tia Incapreo was the defensive star with 25 digs.
"It's always a good game against Burlington," said Hampshire coach Karen Whitehouse, whose team hosts No. 2 ranked and once-beaten Cary-Grove and Whitehouse's former high school coach Patty Langanis tonight.
"We knew we had a tough week ahead of us and tonight was important for our seniors. They knew it was the last time they'd be playing Burlington on their home court. It's all about momentum and tonight our serve and serve receive looked very good. That's been a weak point of ours but tonight it was very good. Burlington's a good team and they're going to get their kills and their digs. But it's about consistency and we were consistent tonight."
The Northwestern-bound Holthus led the Rockets with 12 kills, 6 digs and 2 aces. Scully had 9 kills and 2 aces, Samantha Bohne contributed 9 digs, and Katelyn O'Reilly had 19 assists.