Aquinas Catholic volleyball works through struggles after loss to Scotus

COLUMBUS — Aquinas Catholic volleyball headed to Scotus Central Catholic on Sept. 16 seeking its first win of the season.

The Monarchs showed promise in the first two sets, but the Shamrocks closed out both sets and controlled the third as Aquinas lost 18-25, 17-25, 14-25.

"We're still battling," Aquinas head coach Kate Nienhueser said. "We've had changes recently, so we're just trying to figure something out. Still working through the kinks."

Aquinas pushed Scotus in sets one and two trailing, 18-16 and 17-16, respectively. The Shamrocks ended both sets on big runs, closing out set one 7-2 and set two 7-1.

"In that second set, we cleaned up our serving which helped a ton," Nienhueser said. "We just played a little bit cleaner. That was our big thing is we just know we need to go back to basics and clean things up."

Monarchs junior Maddy Hein spiked a team-high nine kills. Hein spiked six kills in the opening set as she set a new career high for kills in a match, surpassing the six she had versus Kenesaw on Sept. 13.

"Maddy (Hein) came alive. She was on fire on the bench and on the court," Nienhueser said. "She was the one who wanted the ball. She was making smart plays. She would adjust. She was very coachable."

Aquinas juniors Sarah Coufal finished the match with five kills. Sophomore Kaylee Andel and senior Sydni Svoboda tallied four kills each. Junior Taylor Smith recorded 20 assists.

Andel blocked three shots. Svoboda and junior Marissa Miratsky dug nine and seven balls, respectively. Nienhueser said they're still working through things with a small roster.

"We're working with what we have and we're trying to improve and try to help each other get better," Nienhueser said. That's kind of what we were talking about is how it's more of a mental battle," Nienhueser said. "Their skills are there. We've seen it. We've got to finish the game."

Aquinas won its first match of the season at Saturday's Central City Invite defeating Centennial 25-15, 18-25, 25-10. It lost to Nebraska Christian 13-25, 13-25 in the first round and to Central City 15-25, 14-25 in the fifth-place match.

The Monarchs entered Tuesday's game versus Grand Island Central Catholic with a 1-10 record. They'll compete in the Lincoln Parkview triangular on Thursday and in the David City Invite on Saturday.

East Butler

East Butler went 1-6 in seven matches from Sept. 16-20, picking up a three-set win over Nebraska Lutheran at Saturday's Cross County Invite.

The Tigers defeated the Knights 21-25, 25-17, 26-24 behind nine kills from senior Lillie Kriz and six kills from senior Brittney Buresh.

Tigers sophomore Emy Lyons recorded a double-double of 10 digs and 10 assists. Senior Kadence Calahan and sophomore Lucy Polivka also recorded nine digs. 

East Butler entered Tuesday's match at Meridian with a 2-9. It'll join Aquinas at the Lincoln Parkview triangular Thursday before heading to the Hampton Invite on Saturday.