Viqueens beat Nishnabotna in first round
STANTON — The Stanton Viqueens began the regional tournament last Tuesday with a first round win against the Nishnabotna Blue Devils in front of a home crowd.
Stanton won the match 3-0 and earned a quarterfinals match with Bedford Tuesday night in Stanton.
They played well. I think we could have played better and we’re going to have to play better, if we’re going to continue on the regional trail,” Viqueens Coach Jody Druivenga said.
Stanton took control in the first game, jumping out to a 7-1 lead, thanks to a couple of kills by Carmen Subbert, as well as a kill by Heidi Vanderholm and an ace by Haley Weis.
Nishnabotna recovered and tried to close the gap, but Stanton continued to score and pick up points. Stanton soon had a double-digit lead.
“I think we just had the momentum and I thought we were setting things up well, I thought we were serving well,” Druivenga said. We have to be able to put that ball down.”
The Blue Devils rallied late, but it wasn’t enough as the Viqueens won game one 25-15.
Both teams battled back and forth during game two, swapping the lead a couple of times. The Viqueens tied the game 12-12 thanks to a Carmen Subbert kill and jumped out to a multiple point lead. Nishnabotna continued to chase, but it wasn’t enough as Stanton won game two 25-21.
Not content with going down without a fight, Nishnabotna scored four of the first five points to take a 4-1 lead at the start of the third game.
“They’re scrappy and they were just going after everything,” Druivenga said. “They were hungry for every point and that’s very important in volleyball.”
The Viqueens recovered to tie the game 5-5 and both teams traded points. Stanton took the lead at 10-9 and that led to a 14-10 lead, thanks to three Subbert kills, as well as a block.
Nishnabotna called timeout, however Stanton was able to maintain the cushion for the next few points.
Erin DeKay sent a spike to the back row for a kill just a few points later and the Viqueens had a 20-15 lead.
The Blue Devils scored five of the next six points though to cut Stanton’s lead to 21-20, leading to Stanton calling a timeout.
“I think we had some key hits there at the end of both of the games that allowed us to sway the momentum,” Druivenga said. “At this stage of the game, you have to play hard all the time and you have to put it away. You can’t get to 21-19 and play back and forth like that. We need to be able to put it away.”
Nishnabotna tied the game at 21 with a block, however Vanderholm gave the Viqueens the lead again with a kill. Subbert followed up with back-to-back kills as Stanton had a 24-23 lead. The Viqueens scored the next point and won game three 25-23.
Subbert finished the night with a game-high 18 kills out of 33 attack attempts, as well as a team-high of 10 digs.
DeKay had eight kills, seven digs and two blocks (one solo) in the win.
Vanderholm meanwhile finished with six kills in the win. Moriah Kammerer was the only other Viqueen with a kill. Kammerer also had two assists and two block assists.
Macy Elwood shared the assist high with Logan Wagg as both finished with 11.
The Viqueens focus is now on Bedford. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams this season.
Stanton played Bedford twice at the Shenandoah Tournament Sept. 14 and once more at Bedford tournament Sept. 28. All three of those matches resulted in wins.
“We have to practice hard. We have to practice with a lot of enthusiasm. We have to work hard all the time,” Druivenga said. “You can’t be on your heels in this stage of the game and win games.”
The Viqueens have met with Bedford in the postseason in recent years. Last year, Stanton swept Bedford 3-0 in the regional semifinals.
In 2010, Stanton defeated Bedford 3-1 in the regional final to make their first state tournament appearance.
The action starts at 7 p.m. in Stanton.