West branch advances

CLARENCE - On a festive night at North Cedar Middle School, the West Branch Bears arrived dressed simply as a volleyball team.

They played the part well, ousting the North Cedar Knights in a Class 2A regional semifinal Friday, 25-22, 25-9, 20-25, 25-11.

With Fred Flintstone, the Statue of Liberty and a ghost on hand for Halloween, the Knights gave the Bears all they could handle early. North Cedar rushed to a 6-1 lead in the first set behind an ace serve from Rebecca Ahrendsen and a kill from Morgan Sander. The Bears recovered, and collected the next three points behind kills from Jenae Murry and Allyson Simpson.

'In that first set, we came out slow,” said West Branch Coach Josh Lukavsky. 'We knew this was going to be tough, and they kept getting good swings at us.”

The teams traded points until West Branch senior Madison Russell put the Bears ahead for good with a touch kill to make it 21-20.

'Whenever we are down, we just focus on our game plan,” Russell said. 'We don't do anything special. We just get the ball to where we need to get the ball, and get our serves and hits in.”

Every cylinder clicked for West Branch in the second set, and the Bears built a 16-1 lead behind three kills from Russell.

'Our passing was so much better than it was in the first game,” said Russell, who accounted for four kills in the set.

The Knights battled back in the third set. North Cedar built an 8-1 lead behind kills from Aubrey Cady and Maddison Hawtrey. The Bears fought back, but North Cedar refused to go down in straight sets, taking the set, 25-20.

'They wanted it more,” said North Cedar Coach Traci Smith. 'Knowing every point could be your last ... and I think they played it that way.”

North Cedar traded points with West Branch early in the fourth set, but the Bears' attack proved too strong. The Bears move on to the regional final Wednesday against Durant at Wilton.

'We'll take a look at this game to see what we need to do,” Lukavsky said. 'We'll hit some fundamentals hard on Monday and game plan on Tuesday.”