Waubonsie Valley seniors make right choice
Waubonsie Valley’s players, particularly the team’s veteran leaders, insisted that their Senior Night be held Tuesday evening against Neuqua Valley.
Warriors coach Kristen Stuart had asked her players earlier in the season if they did indeed want to face their cross-town rivals on this particular night.
Stuart’s squad not only stepped up to the challenge but won an Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division title in the process, beating the Wildcats 26-24, 25-10 to finish undefeated in league play at 6-0.
“We’ve played (Neuqua Valley) four times this year. They’ve won twice and we’ve won twice,” Stuart said. “The girls told me that this was absolutely what they wanted. I think tonight showed the heart of our seniors.”
One of those seniors was outside hitter Lisa Studnicka, who tallied her match-high 12th kill on her team’s final point.
“We’ve been so pumped up for this game,” Studnicka said. “Senior Night is the biggest game for us and it was for conference. You can’t ask for anything better.”
Early on it was Neuqua Valley that maintained much of the momentum. The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-2 lead in Game 1 as Kaitlynn Novak had a kill and a pair of blocks in that stretch.
Waubonsie Valley clawed its way back and eventually tied the game 18-18 after a Neuqua Valley setting error. The game tied four more times before a hitting error by the Wildcats put the Warriors up 25-24. A service ace by Studnicka earned Waubonsie Valley the game point.
“All night long, Waubonsie played terrific,” Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said. “They were very consistent and they made very few errors. I have to give them credit. They executed their game very well.”
Game 2 was never in doubt as Waubonsie Valley built a 6-1 lead on the strength of two kills by Studnicka and two service aces by Brittany Rampersad.
After a kill by Taylor McKeown cut the Waubonsie Valley lead to 16-7, the Warriors put the game away with seven straight points on 5 kills and 2 aces. Studnicka tallied three kills in that stretch while Danielle Vandenberg had the other 2 kills and Jackie Pedersen tallied the 2 aces.
Studnicka closed things outwith her final kill on the match point.
“Going into Game 2, we really struggled,” Simon said. “Waubonsie would go on runs, putting together three straight points and six straight points at a time. Meanwhile, we’d only score a point at a time and we just couldn’t recover.”
Laura Clarke led Waubonsie Valley with a game-high 20 digs, while Rachel Minarick had 12 set assists and 7 kills.
McKeown led Neuqua Valley with 5 kills while Novak added 8 digs and Callie Huebener had 3 blocks.