Viqueens close season with wins
STANTON—The Stanton Viqueens ended their regular season campaign with a 3-1 win against the Sidney Cowgirls Thursday on senior night.
Stanton’s win completes another undefeated season in the Corner Conference, as well as another regular season title, completing the sweep.
“This season seemed to go very fast,” Stanton Viqueens volleyball coach Jody Druivenga said. “It’s nice to have won the tournament and won the conference. Now we’re just looking forward to regionals.”
Things ran smoothly for the Viqueens in the first game as they jumped out to an 8-1 lead. Sidney tried to recover, but Stanton increased their lead, eventually winning game one 25-9.
The Cowgirls kept close in game two and overtook the lead.
At one point in the second game, Sidney led 17-11. Stanton rallied and got close to tying, only for Sidney to add to their cushion. The Cowgirls went on to win game two 25-21.
“Sidney really turned their game around in that second game and played very scrappy,” Druivenga said.
Stanton halted the momentum of the Cowgirls by jumping out to a 6-0 lead, which eventually became 11-2. Sidney closed the gap, but Stanton held on to the lead long enough to win game three 25-19, thanks to a spike across to the back row by Heidi Vanderholm.
“Volleyball is a game of momentum. When you’ve got it, you’ve got it. When you don’t, you wish you did,” Druivenga said. “I think that’s kind of what we were dealing with tonight.”
The Viqueens jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game four, which included a Carmen Subbert kill to the back row. Sidney scored a couple of points, but Stanton stayed ahead, with help from a couple of serving aces by Haley Weis.
Stanton stayed ahead for the rest of the game and won 25-15, clinching the match.
Subbert finished the night with 20 kills and 17 digs, leading Stanton in both categories. Vanderholm was the only other Stanton player with double-digit kills as she recorded 11 out of 24 attack attempts.
Erin DeKay was close to double-digits as she finished with nine kills, as well as five blocks (one solo and four assists).
“You love to see multiple players really contributing,” Druivenga said.
Macy Elwood had a big night for assists when she recorded 21 of the team’s 41. Logan Wagg had 10 assists, the only other Viqueen with double-digits in that category.
Stanton 3, Heartland Christian 0
The Viqueens began the week with a 25-11, 25-9 and 25-13 win on the road versus Heartland Christian.
Vanderholm led the way for Stanton with eight kills out of 17 attack attempts. Subbert meanwhile had seven kills in the win, which gave her 400 for the season, a career-high. The prior career best for Subbert was 329, which was last season.
Stanton had 28 kills in the win against Heartland Christian. Both DeKay and Weis each had five kills, while Moriah Kammerer finished with three. DeKay had a big night of blocking as she recorded three solo blocks.
In assists, Elwood led the way with 17 of the team’s 26 for the match.
It’s on to the postseason now for Stanton. They face Nishnabotna Tuesday in the first round of 1A regionals. The match starts at 7 p.m. in Stanton.