The Thunderbolts swept Northwest after being extended to five sets by the Vikings earlier this season.
RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 12:00 am
Lincoln Pius X is running a faster offense than the last time it played Northwest 2½ weeks ago.
That may be why the top-ranked Thunderbolts made quick work of No. 2 Northwest on Saturday night at the NU Coliseum to win their third straight Class B state volleyball title.
Pius X ran off the first seven points of the match and never looked back in posting a 25-17, 25-21, 25-20 victory in a rematch of last year's state final.
It's the sixth state championship for Pius X (38-2), all under coach Jake Moore, who also guided the Bolts to three straight titles in 1996-98.
Pius X's third win against Northwest (32-4) this season was nothing like the five-set marathon the Bolts won on their home court Oct. 28.
"When we played them earlier, we were setting everything higher and running things slower," said Moore, whose team is 107-10 over the past three seasons. "We're running things much quicker now and Lauren (Cook) loves the fast offense. I think it caught them off-guard."
With Cook at the controls, Pius X's diverse offense kept Northwest's scrappy defense off-balance most of the night. The 5-foot-8 setter put up 32 assists, registered five dump kills and served an ace.
Natalie Braun led the way with 14 kills, while fellow senior outside hitter Kayla Gaden added eight kills. Middle blockers Liz Bachmann and Allie Falter combined for 13 kills and six ace blocks.
It was only fitting that Bachmann hammered the kill on match point off a quick set from Cook. Pius X had to replace both middles from a year ago.
"That was a big question mark at the beginning of the season, but they (Falter and Bachmann) came through big-time here at the end," Moore said. "Because of our passing and defense, we were in-system a lot tonight. But I thought we also played very well out-of-system. Lauren would run it down and put up a ball we could still swing.''
Libero Elle Ross, who had a team-high 21 digs, served the first seven points for the Bolts, which included two kills and a block from Falter and an ace serve. The lead swelled to 10-1 and Northwest could get no closer than five points after that.
"Our crowd was awesome, and we came out really fired up," Braun said. "Elle's serving run gave us the momentum we rode all the way through.''
The Thunderbolts never trailed in the second set after four straight points - three Braun kills and a Cook service ace gave them an 11-9 edge. Northwest's last lead in the third set was 5-4. A missed serve, a Northwest hitting error and a point-ending tip by Bachmann put Pius X in front to stay 7-5.
Bachmann's kill on match point came after Northwest dug her slide attempt earlier in the rally.
"I thought I had it down on the first one,'' Bachmann said. "We kind of got tired about hearing how us middles were the question mark (this season), and that made us get better. Our goal was to try to keep up with what Mollie (Lacy) and Kelli (Holtmeier) did last year."
The Vikings were hampered by 12 hitting errors and six missed serves. Senior right side/setter Jenna Rouzee paced Northwest with nine kills, two blocks and 20 assists. Katie Rauert and Melissa Costello recorded seven kills apiece.
"This one is hard to swallow because we didn't play our best game," said Northwest coach Diane Rouzee, Jenna's mother. "We couldn't get anything going because we kept hurting ourselves with errors. Pius X played very well, and we just couldn't match them athlete for athlete.''
Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.