M-HC Wolves returning to state tourney!

ARAPAHOE, Neb. — No set was closer than 10 points as the Maywood-Hayes Center swept through Lawrence-Nelson 25-10, 25-14, 25-13 in Saturday's district finals to earn another Class D-2 state tournament spot.

The Wolves are 27-2 overall with a No. 3 seed at state where they'll play an 11 a.m. opener on Thursday against No. 6 Diller-Odell (23-9) at Lincoln's Pinnacle Bank Arena. One more win would match last year's 28-2 team that reached the D-2 state semifinals.

On Saturday, setter Kiley Hetmanek made 21 digs and delivered 22 assists to fuel the finals sweep.

Junior libero Anaiah Seiler hustled for 24 digs and served two aces while junior Olivia Hansen launched 13 kills past Lawrence-Nelson.

The Wolves served eight aces overall with senior Stevie Handsaker totaling two. Handsomer (six kills) and junior Maddie Doyle (five) joined sophomore Kyla Patel's eight kills in another balanced M-HC attack.

More details will appear in Tuesday's McCook Gazette.