As the ball soared in from the opposite side of the net, Blue Valley Northwest senior middle blocker Madison Rohr rose up to meet it. Her hands stretched above the top of the net as she aggressively smacked the ball away from it’s set course. The Manhattan High School volleyball team was unable to defend against the powerful block, and BVNW obtained another point. This was how most of the plays unfolded during the first game as the Huskies middle’s proved to be unstoppable.

“The middles were the highlight of the game,” BVNW outside hitter Sydney Walls said. “They were out their killing it. They knew what shots to hit and they knew when to hit it. They were fantastic and on fire. I think this was their best game by far all season.”

BVNW head coach Molly Haggerty said Rohr was on fire, and had 10 kills in 12 attempts. Her performance cannot get any better than that, and Haggerty said she is proud of how Rohr played.

Rohr said she cannot argue with Walls’ and Haggertys’ assessment, and said while she was nervous for the first few points when MHS appeared to be keeping pace, she believes the team played really well.

In the first set, while BVNW maintained a steady lead, MHS kept fighting to stay in the game. The Huskies ended up taking the match with a final score of 25-15. As the second set progressed, BVNW built lengthy lead early in the match which set the tone for the rest of the game. While the Indians kept battling, they were unable to catch up and at the end of the game the score was 25-10 in favor of the Huskies.

“They couldn’t block or defend us,” Rohr said. “It was really fun to be out there.”

Haggerty said she realizes every match will be tough, and the team has to keep picking up their level. The Huskies need to work on making faster adjustments against teams they do not know much about.

“I think our overall composure was great,” Haggerty said. “Coming out in our first state match that we have played in, I mean this is the first time ever for these girls. It’s been seven years since I’ve been back here. I really like how they came out ready to play and making plays happen, and really forced the other team to make some errors.”

MHS head coach Lisa Kinderknecht said the game did not go as well as the team would have liked. The Indians struggled in all facets of the game, and fell into the wrong mindset early on. However, Kinderknecht said she is happy the team has two games to redeem themselves.

“This team has worked hard to play well together,” Kinderknecht said. “The weakness was, we kind of went our separate ways there for awhile. But they still battled. As long as we are going to battle every game, we give ourselves a chance. Every facet of the game, our passing, our blocking, even our hitting; we just need to be more aggressive. They’re capable of winning. Their motto is to breathe, believe and battle. And we have to work on that.”

Walls said the Huskies excelled in every part of their game with the exception of blocking. The MHS outside hitters used BVNW’s right side hitters to gain a lot of their points, and Walls said the team could improve on that aspect.

“Overall, it was a fantastic game,” Walls said. “There is little to improve on. Whenever we are beating a team, we try to really work on our shots. And we excelled in that even though it was practice. It was just a fantastic game.”

Gallery • 14 Photos

Nicole Tenold