Cloudy skies. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..
Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
St. Cecilia’s Ryann Sabatka spikes the ball against Centura’s Kyra Wooden during their C2-8 subdistrict final Tuesday in Hastings.
St. Cecilia’s Lindsey Parr dives to dig the ball during their C2-8 subdistrict final against Centura Tuesday in Hastings.
St. Cecilia’s Addie Kirkegaard and Brynn Weeks block against Centura’s Faith McDonald during their C2-8 subdistrict final Tuesday in Hastings.
St. Cecilia players celebrate their win over Centura in the C2-8 subdistrict final Tuesday in Hastings. From left is Hannah Schneider, Ammy Escamilla, Nathie Weidner, Jammy Escamilla and Rachel Theisen.
St. Cecilia’s Ryann Sabatka spikes the ball against Centura’s Kyra Wooden during their C2-8 subdistrict final Tuesday in Hastings.
St. Cecilia’s Lindsey Parr dives to dig the ball during their C2-8 subdistrict final against Centura Tuesday in Hastings.
St. Cecilia’s Addie Kirkegaard and Brynn Weeks block against Centura’s Faith McDonald during their C2-8 subdistrict final Tuesday in Hastings.
St. Cecilia players celebrate their win over Centura in the C2-8 subdistrict final Tuesday in Hastings. From left is Hannah Schneider, Ammy Escamilla, Nathie Weidner, Jammy Escamilla and Rachel Theisen.
For the second night in a row, St. Cecilia (22-11) got off to a slow start in postseason play.
The Hawkettes, who matched up against the Centura Centurions in Tuesday’s final of the Class C-2, Subdistrict 8 tournament, dropped the first set 21-25.
But STC rebounded after the opening set loss to win the next three by scores of 25-22, 27-25, 25-19 to advance to a district final matchup, which will be on Saturday.
“It seems like they think they have a lot of pressure on them and there’s not,” said Hawkettes head coach Kelan Schumacher. “They just need to relax and have some fun, that’s when we play our best volleyball.”
The Centurions were led by junior middle hitter Sydney Davis, who had 10 kills in the opening set. With a pair of ace serves from seniors Hannah Worsley the Centurions took a 7-5 lead.
“I think you live for games like that,” said Centurions head coach Shaw Fairbanks. “We told the girls before the game to be the person that surprises somebody and I think they were that on the court tonight.”
The Hawkettes went on a five-point run, getting two kills and a block from sophomore Ryann Sabatka and an ace from junior Chloe Valentine to take a 10-7 lead before the Centurions ended the set on a 9-2 run to win 25-21.
The Centurions used the momentum from set one to build a 14-11 lead in set two, but the Hawkettes got two kills from Addie Kirkegaard and an ace from senior Jill Parr to give them a slight 17-16 lead.
Capitalizing on several Centurion errors, the Hawkettes extended their lead to three points. The final two points of the set came on a kills from Sabatka and a block by Kirkegaard to give the Hawkettes a 25-22 victory.
Set three was a point-for-point battle all the way down to the final play. Sabatka put a big block on Davis for the Hawkettes to tie the score at 24 and then nailed the final kill of the set to give her squad a 27-25 victory.
“After Ryann was able to get that block at the end of set three you could just see us relax and feel the momentum switch at that point,” Schumacher said.
The Hawkettes built a hefty 17-6 lead in set four, getting a pair of blocks and three kills from Sabatka. Davis had a block and five more kills as the Centruions made a final push to cut the lead to four points.
An ace by Valentine and another block from Sabatka sealed the deal for the Hawkettes as they won 25-19.
“I was happy to get that fourth set even though it wasn’t as comfortable as we would have liked it to be after our start but we were much more relaxed,” said Schumacher. “Whoever we play Saturday is going to be tough and we just need to be confident in ourselves and we can play with anyone.”
Davis finished the night with 31 kills for the Centurions.
“We told the girls tonight that it wasn’t going to be hard, but it was going to be work... and they really showed up and they have nothing to be ashamed of,” Fairbanks said. “Besides maybe 15 points, we played some really great volleyball and I’m really proud of them for that.”
Kirkegaard had 17 kills for the Hawkettes and Sabatka added six blocks. Valentine tallied three ace serves on the night and Parr had 34 for assists for the Hawkettes in the win.
SUTTON — Sutton is approaching Day 142.