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Southwest claimed fourth-place trophy at state volleyball meet
GRAND ISLAND, Nebraska -- Even though the Southwest High School volleyball team ended the 2010 season on a losing note, the Roughriders still had a memorable and succcessful campaign.
Southwest, located in Bartley, finished fourth in the Class C-2 state volleyball tournament which concluded a three-day run Saturday, Nov. 13. The 2010 state meet was played at various sites in Grand Island and Hastings and featured competition in six classes, culminating in Saturday's championship and third-place finals.
The Roughriders opened their state meet experience with a straight-set win (25-23, 25-12, 25-13) over Shelby/Rising City Thursday night, Nov. 11, at the High School gym. Southwest advanced to a Friday night, Nov. 12, meeting with top-seed Lutheran High-Northeast of Norfolk in a semifinal contest at the Grand Island Senior High gym. The Riders played tough against a solid Lutheran-Northeast team but came up on the short end of a 25-18, 25-20, 25-18 decision against the eventual C-2 state champions.
That pushed Southwest to a Saturday, Nov. 13, lunch matinee against Thayer Central of Hebron in the third-place final at the Grand Island High gym. The Riders fell behind early in each set and could never seem to grab momentum in a straight-set loss by scores of 25-9, 25-12 and 25-9.
Thayer Central lost to Hartington Cedar Catholic in a five-set marathon Friday evening. Lutheran-Northest defeated Cedar Catholic in straight sets (26-25, 25-10, 25-22) in the state championship finals Saturday night.
Southwest used to be Indianola-Republican Valley. In those glory days, head coach Dennis Troester led his Rep. Valley squads to numerous state titles. This year marked the first time the consolidated Southwest school claimed a state tournament trophy.
"Right now they're not feeling very good about themselves, but we had a great year," Coach Troester said. "Like I told them (Friday) night, they're the first team from Southwest that ever gets to put something from the state tournament in the trophy case, so that's a first for them. That's a big plus, and they've got to be proud of that fact."
Late-season swoon
Four of Southwest's seven losses came in the final three weeks of the season in the team's three major touraments -- the Republican Plains Activites Conference tournament, the C2-11 Sub-District Tournament, and the two state tournament losses last Friday and Saturday. One of Southwest's top hitters, Allie McConville, struggled with a shoulder injury late in the season. Coach Troester said several players were ill during the state meet, further hampering his team's hopes.
"It was a great season for us," Troester said. "We kind of stubbed our toe here at the end. Some of that was the injury situation and the sickness. But we really feel good about our season. When you graduate five seniors like we did last year -- we graduated all our primary passers, and serve receive has been an Achilles heel for us all season. These kids didn't pass for us last, year, we've got a lot of young kids out there trying to do that Then we brought a freshman in (Kenzie May) and she played pretty well for us."
"Those young kids are going to be up and down, just the consistency factor," Troester said. "I feel we had a great season, and we won 26 games, that's the most for Southwest. We won 24 last year, so that's another record for us. An excellent season on that standpoint."
The long-time coach hopes his returning players will use their state-meet experience as a learning tool for next season.
"We had two kids that were sick out there today, and it definitely showed," Troester said after the Nov. 13 consolation final. "We were sick when we came down here, and we ran out of gas, after three days of this. It's tough on the kids. Hopefully we learned from it. We have a lot of young kids back next year, and this experience and they'll want to come back."
Big senior shoes to fill
The Roughriders lose just two seniors from this year's squad. But Candace Malleck and Laura Ruggles will be two big sets of shoes to fill.
"Our two seniors, Candace and Laura, they're both very key players for us," Troester said. "Hopefully we've got some kids that are going to be able to step into those spots. A good group of freshmen that are very athletic, hopefully those kids can step up.
"We've got a good group of juniors that are going to be all right for us. The cupboard not's bare, and we've got people back. We've got some young kids that got some experience this year, varsity-level experience, that's a big plus for us."
State match statistics
In Thursday's opening-round win, Candace Malleck recorded 17 kills, and Allie McConville added 16 kills. Madison Mousel also had four blocks.
In Friday night's semifinals, Southwest struggled against a talented Lutheran High-Northeast squad that finished the year with a 36-2 record. Malleck had 15 kills and two blocks, while McConville had 10 kills and one block. Lauren Ruggels and McConville each had an ace serve.
Coach Troester tried to fire up his team for Saturday's third-place match.
"I pulled our starters in (Saturday) morning and kind of told them what I thought, that (Thursday) we did not play well, we didn't pass well, and I thought we didn't play with a lot of passion," he said. "Part of that was the way we felt (illness). I told them we come out and play with some enthusiasm. I thought we they were fired up about playing the game. They looked a lot better in warm-up (early Saturday) in the other gym.
"We got out here and warmed up, we did pretty decent. But just the situation, we started off and they blocked us, then we had hitting errors -- we've never had that many hitting errors in our life. Part of that was just being tired, and kids being ill and not getting up like you need to playing against good size out there all the way across. That's just a big plus when they were able to block us. We just weren't able to get around the blocks."
Malleck led the Riders Saturday with six kills, while McConville had four kills and one ace serve. Southwest managed just 17 defensive digs in Saturday's loss.
Tough competition
Troester knew his team faced a tough team Saturday -- one that very easily could have challenged Northeast for a state title.
"Thayer Central came down here with the idea of winning a state championship and they very well could have been in that state championship game," he said. "They are very quality team, and they have some people that have been playing for a very long time. Very experienced, excellent hitters, they play defense very well. Kurk (Wiedel, head coach) has been around for a long time, we've known each other for a long time. He has good ball clubs year after year.
"He told me (Saturday) morning, 'I never have beat this guy,' This is the first time he's beat me in a state tournament, so hopefully we'll get another chance to go at each other."
Learning experience
Troester loses just two seniors from this year's team, but they are key players in Candace Malleck and setter Laura Ruggles. The veteran Southwest coach hopes his team can take some lessons from their state meet experience to hopefully make another strong run next fall.
"Like I told the kids (Friday), you've just got to learn from the experience, what it takes to play at this level from day one," he said. "You absolutely cannot let up on any point. You let up, bingo, that momentum is going to go. And down here (at state) that's what's going to kill you, as it does throughout the year. But down here when you're playing good ball clubs you absoutely cannot let that happen.
"That's what I felt (Friday), I thought we let some balls go. We didn't go after them and didn't have the effort that we needed. You just can't do that down here -- maybe you can get away with that at home, with some of the competition you play. But down here, you aren't going to be able to do that."
Better passing
Coach Troester was asked where his team needs to improve next season in order to get back to state and improve on its fourth-place effort this year.
"Passing game, we definitely have to get better in that area," Troester said, "We're going to return two of our top hitters (Allie McConville and Madison Mousel). I think Kenzie May is going to be a very good player for us, she played very well with her handicap, she does amazing things out there. We've got some people that are going to be able to hit the ball.
"We've got to get much better in the passing game, and we're going to have to replace our setter. Hopefully we're going to be solid in that area. That's a big key, you've got to have the passing and a setter to go with that."
Basketball next
Troester is also head coach of the Southwest girls basketball program. Roundball drills were scheduled to start Monday in Bartley, and the veteran coach said some of his volleyball players will report for the first practice session, while some of his top volleyball players will likely take a few days off, and "Hopefully get healed up a little bit," he said.
Other state champs
Papillion-LaVista South went unbeaten this year to claim the Class A state title. Omaha Gross won Class B state title, while Grand Island Central Catholic claimed the Class C-1 title. Exeter-Milligan topped the D-1 field, while Lawrence-Nelson won the D-2 state crown.