t. Paul just might learn to like these five-set matches.
The Wildcats went five for the first time this year and, unlike last year when they lost in five to Ord at the state tournament, it turned out well for them.
Class C-1 No. 3 St. Paul came back from an 0-2 deficit to down C-1 No. 8 Kearney Catholic 23-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-14, 15-9 Tuesday in the semifinals of the Lou-Platte Conference Tournament at Kearney Catholic High School.
St. Paul coach Matt Koehn said this year's team has a different mentality than a year ago.
"Mentally, this is where our team is better than last year," Koehn said. "We don't quit. I told the girls in that final huddle, that's exactly what Ord did to us at state last year. We had them down 2-0 and they came back with confidence, took it to us and ended up state champions."
The Wildcats struggled with serve receive and passing the opening two sets. They also had to find a way to get senior Melanie Placke involved.
Placke had just three kills in the opening set and one in the second, but she broke loose after that to finish with 16 for the match.
Koehn said the Wildcats needed to get Placke away from Kearney Catholic's 6-foot-2 middle blocker Katie Sokolowski.
"We switched our lineup just a little bit so Placke wasn't up against Sokolowski the whole time," Koehn said. "She was just getting worn down having to go against that 6-2 block so we switched it so she was only having to go up against it half the time.
"I think you saw she came alive when she got a weaker block. Those adjustments made a big difference."
The final two sets were all St. Paul. Outside hitter Kay Synowski came up big with five of her 18 kills in the final set.
"Kay fears no one," Koehn said. "We always talk about how we want to make the final play on our side. Whether we make an error or a kill, we want to be dictating what's happens. She really takes that philosophy to heart. No matter where the set is, she's going to go up and take a rip."
Sokolowski led Kearney Catholic with 19 kills while Becky Squiers added 10. Kearney Catholic coach Kris Conner said the Stars needed to get some other hitters into the mix.
"They obviously key on Katie," Conner said. "She's going to see a double block wherever she goes. When you're playing against a team like St. Paul, you have to have a few other people step up."
Ravenna def. Wood River
Class C-2 No. 1-rated Ravenna got 16 kills from Madison Pernicek in a 25-20, 20-25, 25-16, 25-17 victory over Class C-1 No. 10 Wood River in the other semifinal.
The Bluejays also got 10 kills from Mallory Irvin and eight each from Liz Tonniges and Taryn McDowell.
Ravenna coach Korina Wick said the Bluejays weren't really playing at their pace.
"After watching that first game (St. Paul and Kearney Catholic), our game just seemed a little slow paced," Wick said. "That's not really our style of ball. We like fast paced stuff -- fast, quick things.
"I thought we played well, but I know we can play much better."
Wood River coach Peg Heise said the Eagles didn't play their best match either.
"We definitely can play a lot better than what we did tonight," Heise said. "It really didn't seem like either team got a lot of momentum, but when we did it seemed like they'd go back to the service line and take us out a little bit with three or four points in a row. We had a hard time recovering from that."
Wood River got 19 kills from freshman Morgan Heise and 17 from junior Morgan Fischer.
"They're tough to stop," Peg Heise said. "Morgan Heise swings from the outside tough and Morgan Fischer swings from all over the place. She definitely has the capabilities to make some good plays."
Wood River will play Kearney Catholic in the consolation match Thursday while Ravenna will face St. Paul in the championship match. The two teams have split two matches so far this season.
"The first time we saw them they served extremely aggressively at us and we really struggled," Wick said. "The second time we saw them, their serves weren't as aggressive. I think mainly it's going to come down to a serving and serve receiving game."
St. Paul (20-2) 23 24 25 25 15
Kearney Catholic (15-4) 25 26 22 14 9
ST. PAUL (Kills-aces-ace blocks) -- Brittany Langan 9-1-4, Tatum Wroblewski 1-1-0, Erika Voigt 5-1-0, Kirstey Grim 11-0-0, Melanie Placke 16-0-4, Kay Synowski 18-3-1, Nicole Hays 0-2-0, Kira Putscher 0-0-0.
Set assists -- Wroblewski 50, Voigt 8.
KEARNEY CATHOLIC (Kills-aces-ace blocks) - - Molly Heeny 2-3-0, Alicia Crawford 5-0-0, Katie Sokolowski 18-4-3, Becky Squiers 10-2-3, Leah Bryson 2-0-1, Lindsay Connely 2-2-0, Rachael Owen 0-0-0, Kayla James 0-0-0, Emily Hoehn 0-0-0.
Set assists -- Connely 11, Squiers 10, Sokolowski 8.
Wood River (15-4) 20 25 16 17
Ravenna (16-6) 25 20 25 25
WOOD RIVER (Kills-aces-ace blocks) -- Morgan Fischer 17-0-2, Shelby Schultz 0-0-0, Morgan Heise 19-0-0, Becky Boshart 4-1-1, Mattie Heise 3-1-0, Lacey Woitaszewski 0-1-0, Angie Bowers 0-0-0.
Set assists -- Woitaszewski 38.
RAVENNA (Kills-aces-ace blocks) -- Madison Pernicek 16-1-0, Mallory Irvine 10-12-1, Liz Tonniges 9-3-1, Taryn McDowell 8-0-0, Macy Heathers 0-1-0, Ashley Kulwicki 6-1-3, Cally Timm 0-0-0, Nichole Crowell 0-0-0.
Set assists -- Scholl 20, Heathers 17, Kulwicki 7.
