By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
There's still plenty work to be done according to veteran Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick, but he also felt like his team took a step forward in a pair of straight-set home wins over Blue Valley Northwest and Free State Thursday night.
Washburn Rural, which improved to 5-1, opened the night with a 25-11, 25-20 win over Northwest and then routed Free State in its final match of the night, 25-12, 25-10.
Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick talks to his team during a break in Thursday's home triangular. The Junior Blues took straight-set wins over Blue Valley Northwest and Free State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We're here every day to try to get better at something and I do think that they got better tonight,'' Bordewick said. "I guarantee you we've got a lot that we can work on and we've got a higher ceiling to get to, but I thought we did pretty well against Free State.
"Both of those teams tonight are really good.''
Blue Valley Northwest jumped out to 3-0, 4-1 and 9-8 leads over Rural in the first set, but Junior Blue senior star Brooklyn DeLeye tied the set with a kill and Rural dominated the rest of the set.
Junior Zoe Canfield served 10 straight points as Washburn Rural opened up a 19-9 advantage and DeLeye recorded back-to-back kills to put Rural in front 21-10 and the Junior Blues outscored the Huskies 4-1 to close out the win.
Rural never trailed in the second set againt Northwest after a DeLeye kill put the Junior Blues in front 10-4, but the Huskies were still down just 22-20 late in the set before Rural kills from sophomore Layla Collins, junior Jada Ingram and DeLeye ended the match.
Rural was never really threatened in the Free State match after two kills from Ingram and a service ace from senior Taylor Russell helps the Junior Blues build an early 4-0 lead in the opening set.
The Junior Blues took 8-3 and 11-7 leads on Russell kills, with the second kill starting a 7-0 Rural run that put the hosts in command on the way to the 13-point win.
Rural continued to dominate in the second set against the Firebirds, closing out the match with a quick 25-10 romp.
Thursday' wins ran Rural's win streak to four straight since an early loss to Class 5A state power St. James Academy.
"I think they know that's one that if we had played a little better we could have possibly won,'' Bordewick said. "Obviously that's a great coach, a great team but we have a great team also and I think we know we made too many self-inflicted mistakes that cost us and I do think they're disappointed in it but you can learn a lot from losses and we're going to take that approach and go from there.''
Free State outlasted Northwest in its first match, 25-23, 25-27, 25-15.
MATCH RESULTS
Washburn Rural def. Blue Valley Northwest, 25-11, 25-20; Free State def. Blue Valley Northwest, 25-23, 25-27, 25-15; Washburn Rural def. Free State, 25-12, 25-10.
