5 Set thriller goes the way of Benton Central

Benton Central outlasted South Wood in the 1st round of semi state. In what was a heavy South Wood crowd the Bison were able to shutout the noice and come out with a victory.

Set by set

1st: The Bison jumped out to an early lead but Shania Rhamy had a pair of kills to get the Knights back on track. The Knights jumped out to a 5-2 lead and were able to ride that streak throught the set. 2 kills from Kendall Gephart and a block from Cali Foster helped keep the Bison close for a while. Ava Holder got another kill for Benton Central, but it led to a timeout down 17-13. The Knights were able to finish out the set due to a barrage of service errors from Benton Central. Final was 25-20 South Wood.

2nd: Another back and forth set this time going the way of the Knights. 2 aces from Mylah Dillon helped the Knights jump out to a lead, Madison Minniear answered with an ace of her own to bring the Bison back. A block from Gephart brought the bison closer,and that was the theme for the rest of the set as the Bison finished it out with a kill from Foster.

3rd: South Wood jumped out to a 6-5 lead in the set, but a pair of kills for Isabelle Adams helped close the distance and give the Bison a lead. Benton Central took a timeout trailing 15-11 and responded with an ace from Bella Widmer. It wasn’t enough though as Rhamy slammed down a few kills to bring the Knights to match point. The set ended in a net fault giving the Knights a second set win in a row. 25-20 South Wood

4th: Benton Central trailed for the 1st 15 points of the set thanks in part to a block from Adi Deaton of South Wood. Foster for the Bison helped fight back into the set with 3 kills of her own. After the Bison took a timeout trailing 15-12, Ava Holder hammered one down and that set the tone for the rest of the set. Benton went on a scoring run to force a timeout up 21-19. Madison Minniear smoked an ace to force yet another timeout and this set also ended in a service error. 25-20 Benton Central.

5th: The Bison stormed out to a 9-0 lead before South Wood woke up. The Knights battled back to make the score 10-9. Out of the timeout, South Wood continued to score forcing another time out at 13-12. This set ended how the last 2 did, yet another service error.

Stats Leaders:

South Wood – Rhamy(29 Kills) , Mylah Dillon (3 aces, 4 kills) and Hali Pershing ( 1 ace and 11 kills)

Benton Central – Foster (22 kills, ace), McKenna Yadon (8 kills)

South Adams sweeps Lakeland

Game two at Peru was all Starfires all day. Lakeland managed to put up a fight for the first 2 sets scoring 24 and 22 points in each. Lakeland jumped out to a 6-1 lead but that was really all the could muster. an ace from Rylee Amsden helped force a timeout at 19-15. South Adams had the answer however as Kapri Bixler hit an ace and Shaylee Sprunger got a kill, which swung the 1st set in favor of South Adams. The second set was chaulk full of errors as both teams traded service and attack errors for the 1st 12 points. Lakeland was able to get rolling a little bit with an ace from Zoey Bowman and a block from McKenzie Carlson. South Adams took a timeout down 16-15, and promptly responded with a block of thier own. Lakeland then took a timeout of thier own. That didn’t pan out as Reagan Bollenbacher shut the door on the set, 25-22. The third set was not close as the Starfires ran away with it 25-16.

Stat Leaders: Bowman (ace, 6 kills), Satterfield( 2 aces, 5 kills), and Hedges ( 5 Kills) led the charge for Lakeland.

For South Adams, Reagan Bollenbacher(ace, 9 kills), Ana Lehman( 6 Kills), and Reece Beitler (5 Kills) did the heavy lifting.

Championship Pick

I’ll take Benton Central with how dominat they looked in the 4th and 5th sets earlier today.