The Stanton Volleyball Team swept Thayer Central 3-0 in the C2-4 District Final at Cross County on Saturday to advance to State for the 3rd straight year.
The Mustangs won set one 25-11, set two 27-25, and set three 25-14.
Jessie Brandl had 14 kills and 14 digs while Hannah Heppner totaled 11 kills. Bree Burtwhistle added 10 kills, 13 digs, and 23 set assists while Jaiden Hartl notched 20 digs. Makenna Espinoza dished out 12 set assists.
Head Coach Tracy Kuester-Burtwhistle says her team did a great job of staying focused and controlled things throughout much of the match. "Our team philosophy all year is to take one point at a time and keep the momentum on our side of the court. The team did a great job of doing that on Saturday. We served aggressively that kept them out of system. For the second set we had to many unforced errors - which we cleaned up the 3rd set. "
Kuester-Burtwhistle expects nothing less from Brandl, Heppner, and Burtwhistle, but gives a lot of credit to the setters as well. "Yes - Bug, Jess and Hannah are our attacker we go to for big plays. They continue to be consistent and move the ball around which gives us that edge playing offense. Our setters do a great job of placing the ball for them and our players also pass the ball well for our setters. TEAM effort!"
That team effort was good enough to give Stanton (29-3) the No. 4 seed in this weekend's State Tournament. The Mustangs' first round opponent is Fremont Bergan (25-8), who Stanton plays on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Lincoln Southwest.
The Knights swept Sandy Creek 3-0 in the C2-5 District Final at Centennial on Saturday.
A couple of common opponents include North Bend Central and Lutheran High Northeast. Both teams beat the Eagles while the Mustangs lost 3-1 to the Tigers and then turned around and beat them 2-0. Bergan lost 2-1 to North Bend Central early in the season.
Kuester-Burtwhistle says state success won't come easy. State is going to be very competitive again this year. You will not be seeing scores like you did in sub-districts or districts. It will be tight matches and it's going to be the team that holds their composure the entire match. We will attack Bergan like any other match - review film, make adjustments and go out there and give 110% - leave everything on the court."
Stanton has only lost once since Mid-September, and that's part of the reason why I like the Mustangs to win this first round match.
A potential rematch with Hartington Cedar Catholic looms in the State Semifinals on Friday, and I would say the Trojans are the one team standing in the way of a chance for Stanton to defend their state title.
Kuester-Burtwhistle says repeating as state champs has been a real focus for her team. "Our team sets goals every year and that is our goal to repeat. We talked about it at the beginning of season and know that we need to take care of one match at a time to reach the final goal. We need to learn at every match we played and make adjustments. Again, winning it again says a lot to the players and the volleyball program at Stanton. We are moving in the right direction! #staythepath"
I look for the Mustangs to have a great weekend of Volleyball. Stanton has played in the last two Class C-2 State Title matches, and I think their state experience gives them a chance to make the title match for the 3rd year in a row.
The Mustangs may need to knock off a great team in Hartington Cedar Catholic to win it all again, but Stanton only lost 2-1 in the regular season to the Trojans.
It would take a valiant effort for the Mustangs to top the Trojans this weekend should the two play, but anything is possible, especially given how great this Stanton team is.
The Mustangs have to go out there and fight their hardest, take things one point and one set at a time, and not get too ahead of themselves.
Stanton has to go on scoring runs and minimize their opponent (s)' scoring runs against them.
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