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Rocket volley secures state
BYKIRTMANION
Journal-Democrat
A green wave of volleyball power swept over Yutan and
into the state tournament Friday during district finals action at Waverly
High School.
The Rocket team, which won a pair of sub district
matches to reach the finals, took game decisions in convincing fashion
25-6, 25-8, 25-14.
At the sub district tourney at Beatrice, the Rockets
got past Lincoln Lutheran, 25-11, 25-21, 25-15, and Falls City, 25-18,
25-21, 17-25, 25-22.
The meeting with Falls City was a bit unexpected.
Johnson County Central, the second seed of the tourney, was upset by Falls
City.
Coach Dean Farley said his team didn’t worry
about who the sub district final foe might be, and, therefor, didn’t
have much of a reaction to the upset win by Falls City.
“We were just focused on taking care of
Syracuse volleyball,” Coach Farley said.
Once in the district final, the Rockets simply
didn’t mess around with Yutan. It took only 61 minutes for the
Rockets to win their way to thier first state tourney appearance since
2003.
The 2003 trip was the Rockets’ fifth in a row.
No doubt, the team is glad to be back at state, but Coach Farley said the
state tourney is not a must have goal for the program, and noted that teams
in recent seasons have posted solid campaigns that were not rewarded with
state.
S-D-A went 22-4 last year, but didn’t make the
district finals.
“There’s a lot that goes into getting to
the state tournament,” Coach Farley said. “There are way too
many uncontrollable factors there.”
That doesn’t mean state tournaments
aren’t great accomplishments.
“That’s what everybody plays for,”
Farley said. “You want to continue into the post season.”
Going into the year, Coach Farley said the Rockets
felt they had the talent to compete with any team on the schedule.
“I am very happy to say we were able to do
that,” Farley said, adding that his team dealt with injury-related
adversity and got major contributions from every one of its 17 player
roster along the way to the district championship.
Statistical leaders from the district final win
include Kelsi Wichmann, seven ace serves and nine digs; Kelby Goering, two
ace serves; Ellen Neels, five kills and three blocks; Megan Farley, 23 set
assists and an ace; Alex Landwehr, 10 kills and two blocks; Jordan Lechner,
five kills and two blocks; Katie Dettmer, five kills and three blocks; and
Ellie Jacobson, seven digs.
Looking back to sub districts, Coach Farley pointed
out the play of Rocket reserve Emily Reed, who came in and provided the
squad with a spark during the fourth game of the team’s win over
Falls City.
Fall of success
The Rockets’ state accomplishment punctuated a
great fall for S-D-A teams. The Rocket golfers made state and Stephanie
Rodgers finished in the top five. Grant Aden finished in the top five at
state cross country, while the boys’ team was seventh and the girls
qualified both runners who went out for the sport.
The softball team made it to the state tournament as
well and the Rocket football squad made it to the third round of the state
playoffs for the first time in school history.
Coach Farley said he works with all the athletes
during the off season conditioning program and, as a coach and graduate of
the Syracuse school, was proud of all the accomplishments.
“That just goes to show the dedication we have
amongst the coaches and the players we have on those teams right
now,”Farley said.
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