Assumption Rockets outside hitter Brooke Moore tries to get the ball past the hands of Mercy Jaguars setter Morgan Elmore, center, and Jaguars middle blocker Neci Harris, right.
07 November 2015
Top-ranked Assumption needed just three sets to take care of archrival Mercy and advance in the KHSAA state volleyball tournament.
In a matchup of the two highest ranked teams alive, the Rockets (32-7) played near flawlessly the first two sets, sweeping the Jaguars, the No. 3 team in the state coaches’ association poll, in a state quarterfinal match Saturday afternoon at Valley.
The Rockets reward was to get the next highest-ranked team, Notre Dame, in a semifinal hours later.
“I’m very glad that it only went three,” Assumption coach Ron Kordes said.
Brooke Moore led the Rockets with 16 kills, and Kara Shacklette and Kayla Kaiser added 11 and 10 respectively, while Shelby Olsen pitched in 35 assists.
Assumption was precise with its attacks early, committinh only two errors in the first set, the last allowing the Jaguars (31-8) to tie it at 11. The Rockets dominated the rest of the set to take it 25-17.
The lone error in the second set came as the Rockets led 24-18. They’d win that set two points later on a Kaiser kill. It was a performance Kordes said he could not have drawn up any better, as the Rockets would only commit eight errors for the match.
“We did a really good job of keeping stuff controlled, keeping things in play,” Moore said.
Meanwhile, Mercy, last year’s state champions, committed 23 errors and were never able to put together any runs to take momentum in any of the sets.
“Assumption played extremely well, and we made a lot of mistakes, a lot of errors and that’s partially contributed to Assumption’s ball control,” Mercy coach Matt Thomerson said. “They did a good of keeping the ball in play and making us work out of our comfort zone.”