Lady Cats capture GVVC volleyball tournament title
After having already locked up the Golden Valley Vernon County Conference regular season volleyball championship, the Bronaugh Lady Wildcats added to its collection of hardware, winning the GVVC conference tournament Saturday night in Hume with a decisive two-set title match victory over the Hume Lady Hornets.
Bronaugh received a first-round bye, entering as the tournament's top overall seed. The Lady Wildcats then dispatched fourth-seeded Miami in the semifinals 25-17, 25-21. On the other side of the bracket, second-seeded Hume, who also received an opening-round bye, matched up with the Sheldon Lady Panthers in the semifinals.
Sixth-seeded Sheldon advanced to the semifinals after springing a first-round upset on the third-seeded Northeast Vernon County Lady Knights. Sheldon upended NEVC in three sets 25-17, (25-16), 25-20.
Despite a valiant effort in its semifinal match with Hume, the Lady Panthers were unable to keep the momentum going, as they fell in two sets 25-17, 25-21. In the third-place game, Sheldon was defeated by Miami 25-21, 25-20.
Championship match
The Lady Wildcats opened the match on a 10-2 spree, capped by senior middle hitter Katey Rider's hard spike. Hume reeled off the next three points, as Hannah Swickhamer's kill trimmed Bronaugh's lead to five.
Bronaugh answered with a 4-0 run, as senior setter Kailey Harrell dropped in an ace, followed by a Rider block at the net, increasing its advantage to 14-5.
Bronaugh began to pull away after junior Becca Raper netted back-to-back kills to hand the Lady Cats a 20-9 lead. On both plays, fellow junior Abby Robertson set up the play with a pair of perfect front row passes.
Bronaugh took five of the final seven points for the 25-11 first-set victory.
After regrouping, Hume came out sharp in the second set, trailing 4-3 after a Michala Lantsberger kill. Bronaugh then began to flex its muscle, netting 11 of the next 16 points to grab a 15-8 lead.
A Swickhamer ace was followed by a Rider running kill from the second row, as the Lady Cats held a 20-14 advantage.
An Addie Burgess ace put Hume on the brink, as the Lady Hornets trailed 24-15. The title match ended on a Hume hitting error, as the Lady Cats took the set 25-15.
After the title match victory, second-year head coach Daryl Dodson discussed Bronaugh's journey to the GVVC regular-season and tournament championships.
"We've really improved a lot since the beginning of the season," said the veteran coach, who previously coached Bronaugh in the early 90s. "The girls have been playing their positions a lot better, and more than anything they're communicating better than they have been all year."
Dodson said serving is a key component of his team's success.
"We've been serving well all year," he said, "and we served well tonight. Our sets were good, so Katey and Becca were able to find the spots they wanted to be in."
Dodson said the championship was a total team effort, but added that his two seniors, Rider and Harrell have been integral to the team's success this season.
The 6-foot-1 Rider controlled the championship match, as Hume didn't have any answers for her size and strength. If the GVVC tournament were to name a Most Valuable Player, it would have been Rider.
"Katey has really been asked to do more this year than she's ever been asked," Dodson said. "She's probably been 65 to 70 percent of our offense."
Meanwhile, Harrell has earned a reputation as having one of the hardest serves to handle of any player in the GVVC conference. Harrell, who has nearly perfected her float serve, has spent the past three seasons stockpiling aces.
"Kailey has been asked to be a setter this year," Dodson said, "after having never been on the front row before. She's overcome great leaps and bounds to be doing what she's doing."
Dodson also credited juniors Raper and Robertson for their excellent play Saturday night.
"Becca is just like Katey," Dodson noted. "When they're on the front row, they do virtually 90 percent of the work.
"Abbey played really well tonight. I was happy with her sets and she was very energetic. I was very proud of the way she played, as I was with the play of all the girls."
According to Dodson, the Lady Cats last GVVC tournament championship came in 2006.
"We've accomplished our first and second goals set at the beginning of the year," Dodson said. "The first one was to win the (regular-season) conference championship, and the second one was to win the (conference) tournament championship."
Dodson added that another preseason goal still remains on the list.
"That's to do something (we've) never done before," he said, "winning a district championship."
Lady Hornets head coach Carlee Campbell said she has been pleased with her team's progression.
"We've came a long way," the first-year coach said. "We have a really young team. This is a great group of girls. We have a lot of things to work on, but we're getting there."
In their two regular-season matches, Hume and Bronaugh split, resulting in the Lady Wildcats only conference loss.
"We played pretty well in the tournament," Campbell said. "I feel like we could have played better against Bronaugh. Our second (set) was better than our first. Bronaugh is a really tough team, and I feel like the competition all year has been good."