Trojans pound Paxton for third place in RPAC

Cambridge junior Erin Johnson (above) and senior Jalen Kent (below) were both powering the win Tuesday night over RPAC rival Paxton at McCook's Graff Events Center.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

McCOOK, Neb. — Both teams were one night removed from tough 3-2 RPAC semifinal defeats...

So Cambridge decided why not finish Tuesday’s RPAC third-place match vs. Paxton in three quick sets?

“The girls were all disappointed from the loss the night before,” coach Lauren Carpenter remarked about the loss to eventual RPAC champ Southwest in five sets at Bartley Monday night.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

Cambridge (23-4 record) won the firsdt set, 25-20, and took a 25-23 third set before those 26-3 Roughriders rallied.

“With not making it into the finals they just had to get their mindset right,” L.C. explained. “And so they got focused and knew they wanted to take thirdplace and worked hard for it against Paxton.”

The Trojans just did that in this showdown of RPAC East-West No. 2 seeds at McCook’s Graff Events Center.

Junior Erin Johnson clobbered 15 kills and served six aces during the 25-20, 25-16, 25-20 sweep of those 17-10 Tigers.

Seniors Jalen Kent (nine) and Brylyn Springer (eight) almost equally divided another 17 killer shots.

Sophomore setter Mallory Springer was busy dealing 33 of the Trojans’ 35 assists.

Yet Cambridge also defended Tiger kill tries whether it was Kent’s 16 digs, Johnson’s 14, senior Bailee Ahlemeyer’s 13 and another 10 from Brylyn Springer.

Senior Audrey Holm’s 11 kills were the best Tiger mark in this match.

The girls were exhausted after a 5 set match against Southwest the night before so it took a bit for us to get going,” Carpenter said. “We were also able to sub in the second and third sets and get some new girls on the court.”

Freshman Elizabeth Kubik clubbed two kills and frosh Joslyn Holtze served an ace. Freshman Brooklyn Holtze drilled one kill.

Subdistricts tip off on Monday.