The Southern Nebraska Conference tournament’s opening round of play pitted two Clay County rivals against each other as the Sandy Creek Cougars and the Sutton Fillies squared off in Superior, with the victor having to take on the second-seeded Wildcats of Superior.
Sutton owned a three-set win over the Cougars back on Sept. 3 this season, but this night, after a 25-18 Sutton win in the first set, it became Sandy Creek’s match to win in the final two sets. The Cougars rebounded after the first set loss to the Fillies to win 25-10, 25-17 and advance to take on Superior in round two of the tournament.
Sutton held the edge in serving over the Cougars with seven aces compared to three for Sandy Creek, but the Cougars only had three service errors compared to six for the Fillies.
Sandy Creek was 65-68 serving, serving at an impressive 95.6 percent clip, while Sutton was 56-62 (90.3%).
Leading the Cougars was Emma Fisher with two aces and Ava Hubl with one. Sutton was led by Kaci Yost and Dyvet Fonseca with two each, while Jacee Haight, Avery Smith, and Kayden Kauk had one ace each.
On the attack offensively, Sandy Creek collected 26 kills, with the Fillies downing 35 in all, committed 23 hitting errors in 114 total attempts (79.8%), while hitting .105 in the match. In contrast, the Cougars had 13 errors in 101 attempts (87.1%), while hitting .129 in the three-set match.
Sandy Creek was led at the net by Claire Williamson and Hubl with six kills each, while Fisher and Carrigan Rempe downed five each, with Katelyn Pohlmeier adding two.
Sutton’s attack was led by Miranda Nuss with 11 kills, Katie Baldwin with 10, Haight with eight, while Yost and Kyla Griess both charted a pair of kills.
Sutton setter Avery Smith had 29 assists in the loss, as she was a perfect 76-76 setting the ball, while for the Cougars, Pohlmeier had 21 assists to lead, converting on all 82 of her setting attempts in the Cougars’ win.
Defensively, both teams had five blocks in the match. Sandy Creek’s leaders were Jenae Calderon and Anna Paus with two each, while Fisher added one. Sutton was led by Baldwin with three, with smith and Adilynn Gimple gaining one block each.
Both teams had three players in double digits with digs, as Sandy Creek was led by Fisher and Williamson with 13 each, while Rempe gained 10. Morgan Petr also added eight digs in the victory.
Sutton’s leader was Griess with 15, while Lindsey Ladehoff and Smith both charted 10 each. Yost added seven, while Foseca and Kauk had five each.
The win moved Sandy Creek to 7-18, while Sutton fell to 10-16.
Sandy Creek................................................... 18 25 25 Sutton............................................................ 25 20 17 Sandy Creek- Ace K Bl SA Dg Emma Fisher..................................2 5 1 3 13 Ava Hubl........................................1 0 0 0 1 Anna Paus......................................0 6 2 0 1 Claire Williamson..........................0 6 0 0 13 Carrigan Rempe............................0 5 0 0 10 Katelyn Pohlmeier........................0 2 0 21 4 Jenae Calderon..............................0 1 2 0 3 Kyler Hegemann...........................0 1 0 0 0 Morgan Petr..................................0 0 0 1 8 Sandy Creek Totals................3 26 5 25 53 Sutton- Ace K Bl SA Dg Kaci Yost.........................................2 2 0 1 7 Dyvet Fonseca...............................2 0 0 0 5 Jacee Haight..................................1 8 0 0 4 Avery Smith...................................1 1 1 29 10 Kayden Kauk..................................1 1 0 0 5 Miranda Nuss................................0 11 0 0 1 Katie Baldwin................................0 10 3 0 2 Kyla Griess......................................0 2 0 3 15 Lindsey Ladehoff...........................0 0 0 0 10 Lincoln Friesen..............................0 0 0 0 1 Adilynn Gimple.............................0 0 1 0 0 Sutton Totals.........................7 35 5 33 60
Emma Fisher goes up for this pass while two Sutton defenders go to the net in hopes of blocking it. MELISSA WHITEFOOT | CLAY COUNTY NEWS
