Norris spreads out Crete, pounds out win

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BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star

CRETE — Norris showed off the volleyball version of the spread offense Tuesday night.

Sophomore setter Leah Burbach ignited a balanced Norris attack that featured three Titans with double-figure kills in a 25-17, 25-20, 21-25, 25-18 victory.

Senior middle blocker Megan Poe’s 13 kills paced the Titans (8-6), but junior middle EJ Hrouda and junior outside hitter Abby Olsen weren’t far behind with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Julia Krueger, a 5-4 sophomore outside, had seven kills.

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Burbach, a 5-9 sophomore, used all her options to get 40 assists.

“That’s what we’re trying to do. We don’t want anyone to key on one person,” said Norris’ Rhonda Burbach, Leah’s mother who shares the Titan varsity coaching duties with Tobiann Waters while head coach Christina Boesiger is on maternity leave.

“We don’t have a go-to player, so we want to spread it out and keep people guessing where we’re going to attack.”

Norris needed everyone involved to counter Crete all-stater Jessica Fey, 6-foot senior outside hitter/setter who finished with a match-high 24 kills to go with 11 assists. The Titans hit on all cylinders in the first set as Burbach put up 15 assists, Poe and Olsen each knocked down five kills and Hrouda had four kills and served an ace.

The second set was tied at 20 when Norris ran off the final five points to take command of the match. Olsen pushed a shot to the corner that a Crete defender shanked to break the deadlock. She  also cranked a left-side kill to move Norris to set point, then a Crete error finished it.

Norris had a 20-19 lead in the third set, only to see Fey, a Washburn recruit, take over and spark a 6-1 Crete run to force a fourth set. She ripped four kills during that span, while teammates Karlee Kemper and Kacey Holroyd served aces to account for the other two points.

The Titans took control in the fourth set with Fey in the back row, expanding an 8-6 lead to 16-9 during Fey’s three rotations as a setter. The Cardinals (4-7) got as close as 22-18 before two straight Crete errors and Hrouda’s kill in the middle ended it.

“We tried to take advantage of it when she (Fey) was in the back row, but it didn’t always work out,’’ Waters said. “We couldn’t slow her (Fey) down. She’s awesome.”

Six-foot junior Kate Edwards, a Super-State basketball player, added nine kills for the Cardinals, while senior setter Sarah Lothrop contributed 22 assists. Crete coach Mary Conway said her team is currently without junior libero Amanda Reetz, who’s been sidelined with several physical ailments the past two weeks. Conway hopes to have Reetz back within the next week.

Southwest 3, Northeast 0: Sarah Faubel had 10 kills and one ace block in the Silver Hawks’ 25-16, 25-20, 25-13 victory that included a school-record 32 team kills for a three-set match.