The Sutton and Sandy Creek volleyball teams entered the C2-9 Sub-District tournament having to travel a combined 377 miles or so to battle it out in the first round of the postseason tournament. The two teams, separated by a little over 20 miles, headed to Hayes Center High School to see which team could keep their season’s alive at the home of the top seeded Maywood-Hayes Center Wolves.
It was the so-called rubber match between the two Clay County rivals, as both teams had wins over each other, with Sutton earning a 22-25, 25-19, 25-11 victory over the Cougars back on Sept. 3.
The Sandy Creek girls gained a little revenge over the Fillies in the first round of the Southern Nebraska Conference tournament, beating Sutton 18-25, 25-20, 25-17 during a match at Superior High School Oct. 14.
This battle for the Fillies and Cougars was all Sutton, as the Fillies came away with a three-set sweep in the best of five match, winning 25-15, 25-7, 25-19 to improve to 11-18 on the year, while Sandy Creek wraps up the 2024 season with a 7-22 record.
Set one was a nip and tuck set, as Sutton held a narrow 18-14 lead before outscoring the Cougars 9-5 to close out the first set, 2515 victory.
Set two saw the Fillies race out to an early 9-0 lead, with the help of three Sutton kills and three Sandy Creek hitting errors, gaining the Fillies the nine-point lead.
Sandy Creek just couldn’t battle back into the set, as the Fillies went on to outscore Sandy Creek 14-7 to close out set two with the 25-7 victory.
Dyvet Fonseca gave Sutton an early 5-0 lead in the third set, as a Sandy Creek serving and hitting error, combined with a Fonseca ace serve, and kills from Jacee Haight and Miranda Nuss spurred the Fillies to the 5-0 lead before Sandy Creek got on the board.
Sutton then added to their lead with five more points, while allowing the Cougars to score once and take a 10-2 lead before the Cougars went on a 7-2 run to tighten up the third set behind kills from Claire Williamson, Katelyn Pohlmeier, and four Sutton errors to trim the Fillies’ lead to 12-9.
Sutton then combined for eight kills from Jadlyn Kinney, Katie Baldwin, Haight, and Kaci Yost, while serving and hitting errors hampered Sandy Creek’s comeback push, with the Fillies outscoring the Cougars 12-10 in the end to earn the three-set sweep of the Cougars.
Sutton’s win set the Fillies up against the host Wolves, as the top-seeded Maywood- Hayes Center girls and Sutton were to play the semifinal match of the C2-9 tournament late Tuesday afternoon in Hayes Center.
A full story of Sutton’s match with the Wolves will appear in the Nov. 6 edition of the Clay County News.
