WILDCATS REACH CLASS 4 FINAL FOUR IN VOLLEYBALL

 
The road to the Final Four was a bit bumpier than many Blue Springs volleyball fans anticipated, but the Wildcats have reached their final goal following a 26-24, 25-15 victory over Lee’s Summit North and a harder-than-anticipated 27-25, 25-10 win against upstart Liberty Saturday afternoon in Class 4 sectional action at Blue Springs South High School.
            Liberty slipped past Truman 20-25, 25-25-18, 25-18 to reach the finals against a determined Wildcat team that upped its record to 32-4 with the two big victories in sectional action.
            “Both of our first games against Lee’s Summit North and Liberty were tough because I think we were kind of nervous,” said senior right side hitter Kirsten Erikson, who had 11 kills in the two matches.
            “This has been our goal all season and we knew it was going to be tough against North because they beat us in conference (play), and we knew Liberty would be a challenge because they’re much better than their (16-17-1) record would indicate.
            “After we won those two first games, we settled down and played really well in the second game.”
            The first game against the 31-6-1 Broncos was the classic everyone anticipated at North ran off to an 11-6 lead before the Wildcats fought back and eventually knotted the score at 15-all.
            “We knew it was going to be tough, and it was,” said senior middle hitter Lisa Henning, who led the Wildcats with 19 kills. “When it was tied 24-all, we knew we had to get the lead, and we did.”
            Henning scored the final three points for Blue Springs with gym-ratting kills that set up the second-game blowout.
            “Once we won the first game,” senior outside hitter Ali Cavanaugh said, “we just knew we were going to win the second one. We felt that way against North and against Liberty. We just had so much confidence.”
            The first game against Liberty was a slam-bang affair that was tied three times after the score was knotted at 20-all. The Wildcats finally won on a Kiely Culbertson ace.
            “The girls did what they had to do to win tonight,” coach Katie Grusing said. “We’ve talked to many times this season about how the girls are able to maintain their composure, and they did that tonight.
            “I think we all expected three close games like the first game of the Lee’s Summit North match and the girls came back strong in that second game.
            “They did it again against Liberty. I’m so proud of them and so happy for them. To have another week of practice with this team, to have another bus ride with this team – they’re just special. I’d go to the ends of the earth with these girls.”
            Moments after they defeated Liberty for the sectional title, the girls gathered around fallen teammate Rebecca Pettit, who suffered a torn ACL in the Blue Springs South Tournament earlier this season.
            She watched the games in a wheelchair behind the Blue Springs bench.
            “We wanted to win for Becca and let her know she’s still an important part of this team,” Henning said.
            As she watched the Blue Springs-Lee’s Summit North semifinal match, Truman coach Denise Craig was still trying to figure out what happen in the Patriots loss to Liberty.
            “We looked so good in the first game, then, I just don’t know,” Craig said, after the Patriots wrapped up a surprising 22-12-1 season.
            “I’m not unhappy with the way they played, because they played extremely hard. It’s just hard to say goodbye to these girls, they mean a lot to me and we’ve had a great ride this season.”
            Record-setting senior setter Taryn Nash agreed, adding, “It’s tough, it’s bittersweet because no one wanted the season to come to an end. We had so much more success than anyone anticipated and it’s hard for it to all come to an end.”
            Junior outside hitter Lauribeth Agee said it will be tough to say goodbye to her senior teammates.
            “I’ve played with those girls for three years and I love them, they’re more like my family than my teammates,” Agee said. “We’re not going to focus on what happened today – we’re going to focus on all the good times we’ve had the past three years.”