New London brooms WACO from postseason play

Winning three straight sets by scores of 25-9, 25-10 and 25-10, 12

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-ranked New London swept WACO right out of Class 1A regional competition on Tuesday night.

?We were really focused,? New London head coach Maureen Heath said. ?Our serving was really on, and we stayed aggressive with that.?

It was junior Sarah Holtkamp?s 10-point serving run, which included two aces, that ended the match.

Holtkamp served seven straight points to end the second set, and finished the night going 25-for-26 from the service line with six aces.

?Our serving was a big point,? New London senior Taylor Landes said. ?We had a lot of aces. Our middle offense also did great, I thought.?

Middle hitter Koral Crossett had seven kills to aid Holtkamp?s serving runs, and finished with a team-high 16 kills in the match.

?Crossett had a great night at the net,? Heath said.

New London ran away with game one in the regional contest, going up 9-3 early and maintaining at least a six-point advantage from there on out. A Morgan Christner ace capped New London?s win in the first set.

In the second set, WACO kept pace with the Tigers early, tying the score at 5-5. But New London started gaining from there. Holtkamp started serving at 18-10, and four Crossett kills in five points sealed the win for the Tigers.

The third set went much the same way, as WACO battled to stay within just a few points until Holtkamp started serving at 15-10. Once again, a Crossett kill ended the game and, this time, the match.

?We kept our game plan in mind and played as a team,? New London senior Caitlin Chiri said. ?We kept our composure throughout the match.?

WACO, on the other hand, had its ups and downs.

?I think we came out with a lot of energy, but we just weren?t consistent,? WACO head coach Tom Ferguson said. ?That?s been a problem for us all season.?

WACO freshman Hannah Black had five kills on the night for the Warriors, and junior Rosemary Skriver added three. Junior Ashlyn Hammen and freshman Kaitie Miles had six assists apiece, and junior Bailey Graber contributed four.

Sophomore Erika Leichty had 18 digs, and junior Katelyn White added 11.

The Warriors finish the season with a record of 3-21, but the young team ? which won?t lose a single player to graduation ? is already talking about how it can get better for next year.

?The girls will play club volleyball this winter. They?ve already decided that,? Ferguson said. ?The biggest thing is that they need to be consistent with the energy that they bring to the court. We have a lot of good individual players ? we just have to bring it all together as a team.?

The Tigers are now 30-10 on the season, and they advance to Tuesday?s regional quarterfinal at Winfield-Mt. Union (26-7).

Next week?s game will be in Winfield, so last night?s game was the final home game for seniors Landes, Chiri and Crossett.

Landes had four digs and went 4-for-4 in serving in her final home game, and Chiri had eight digs and went 13-for-14 serving with three aces.

Sophomore Emily Parks led the Tigers with 12 digs on the night and Holtkamp had 11. Holtkamp also had a team-high 25 assists and three kills.

Parks was 12-for-14 serving with five aces, and Christner was 7-for-8 with three aces.