Southwest's record-setting season finishes 34-2, fourth at state

LINCOLN, Neb. — Class D-1 No. 1-seed Southwest and No. 2 Bruning-Davenport-Shickley (BDS) battled for third place to finish state volleyball Saturday afternoon at Lincoln North Star High School.

Southwest finished fourth in 2010 and was seeking its first third-place finish in school history. Unfortunately, things did not go their way, and the Eagles took the match with a 3-0 win over Southwest.

The Roughriders finished their season with a fourth-place finish and a record of 34-2.

In set one, BDS took the 4-1 lead early and managed to hold a lead through almost half of the set as Southwest took the lead at 11-10. The Eagles didn't let that last long, though. They knotted it up at 12-12 and extended their lead, forcing Southwest to use a timeout when they trailed 16-13.

Errors started to plague the Roughriders, and they had to use another timeout at 21-16. BDS took set one 25-18 over Southwest.

Southwest adjusted between the sets and jumped out in front in set two, 7-4. The Roughriders were clicking as they had strong serves and were finding the court.

They forced the Eagles to use a timeout at 13-8, but BDS made some adjustments during the timeout and went on a run to score 13-11.

BDS pulled within one, 15-14, and eventually evened the set at 17-17. The Eagles took the 18-17 lead, and Southwest called a timeout.

The Eagles created a little more separation and forced the Roughriders to use their final timeout when they trailed 21-19.

Southwest crawled back, but BDS took the second set, 25-23, and led the match 2-0.

In set three, BDS led 2-1 early, but the Roughriders took the 5-4 lead. The two knotted it up at 7-7, and BDS took the 12-10 lead. Southwest kept in touch for a while as the two exchanged points until BDS could string together points and force Southwest to call a timeout when they trailed 19-16.

Southwest had to use their second timeout at 22-16, and they were finally able to get a little bit of a momentum shift in their favor.

The Roughriders strung together a strong run as they forced BDS to use a timeout at 24-23 in favor of the Eagles. Southwest stayed strong, took the 25-24 lead, and forced another BDS timeout. Unfortunately, BDS clawed back to take the third set, 27-25, and the match, 3-0.

“We had a nice run there and I thought if we could just win there, momentum would go on our side,” Southwest coach Kim Barnett told KICX Radio. “But we had an error there, and we just couldn’t quite over the top and get it done.”

Southwest still set a school record for wins with 34 besides its first state volleyball tournament as the Roughriders when they swept Diller-Odell in Thursday’s D-1 quarterfinals.

BDS — with a 30-5 final record — was led by Kinzley Bohling, who had nine kills and 11 digs, and Hayley Sliva, who had nine kills, two aces, 10 digs, and nine assists. Also for the Eagles, Campbell Bohling had seven kills and 20 digs, Peyton Domier had 15 digs, and Olivia Schlegel had 11 digs and 14 assists.

For Southwest, Kyra Nelms had 15 kills, Atleigh Nelms had 11 kills and 13 digs, Anikka Nelms had 10 kills and two blocks, Allison VanPelt had two aces and 14 digs, Anastasia Gallegos had 14 digs, Payton Truksa had nine digs and Aspen Billeter had 34 assists.

Southwest takes fourth place and ends the season with a record of 34-2. Southwest also earned the Class D1 Sportsmanship Award.