The Emporia High volleyball team’s mindset heading into the Olathe North Quad Thursday night was quite simple: If the Lady Spartans were going to travel all that way, they might as well come back to Emporia with a few wins in tow.
And that’s just what EHS did, defeating all three opponents for Emporia’s first sweep in a quad in five years.
“This was big,” EHS coach Kendra Bloomquist said. “We showed good focus tonight. The games lacked good rhythm at times and that caused the momentum to swing back and forth at times. ... But we passed well and defended well, and we’ve kind of hung our hat on that this year.”
Emporia (15-6) opened the night with a 27-25, 25-22 victory over Olathe Northwest. Emporia let a 7-0 lead slip away in Game One before rebounding on the strength of a Taylor Hollond kill that tied the game at 18, and then Sadie Webb and Hollond provided the final two kills to give EHS the game. In Game Two, Emporia edged past Northwest late, pulling out the three-point victory after a 21-all tie.
Webb tallied seven kills in the match, Hilary Heinrichs had five and Hollond and Ashley Lake contributed three. Amber Miller and Lake led EHS with eight digs apiece.
In Match No. 2 against Shawnee Mission Northwest, Emporia took control early in both games, getting out a 7-3 lead in Game One and a 6-1 lead in Game Two. SMNW made runs on EHS in both games, but the Lady Spartans held off every charge to take the match, 25-21, 25-20.
“The whole night was a night of runs,” Bloomquist said. “We would get momentum and build a lead and then we’d let the other team make a run right back at us to make it close. We did a good job, though, of getting some of that momentum back.”
Heinrichs had eight kills and 11 digs to lead EHS against SMNW, while Lake added 14 digs.
Emporia faced off against the host school, Olathe North, in the final match of the night, and the Lady Spartans took care of business again in two games, 25-18, 25-12.
Lake and Heinrichs each chipped in six kills for EHS, while Heinrichs and Jessica Decker led the way with 10 digs.