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Katie Herndon

BVNW senior Stacie Williams (23) spikes the ball at Blue Valley West Oct. 21.

For the second consecutive season, head coach Molly Haggerty’s volleyball program was eliminated from postseason play in their first match at Substate. Unlike the 2016 Husky team, which entered the postseason with a 26-8 record, and was expected to compete for a state championship, this year’s BVNW team came into their matchup with Blue Valley North with a 14-21 record.

The Huskies dug themselves an early hole in the first set as they allowed the Mustangs to win the first three points before senior Allie Honn spiked home the first Huskies point of the night. Haggerty said the team knew that BVN having defeated BVNW in the regular season was going to be a handful.

“We knew it was gonna be tough,” Haggerty said.

Senior libero Anna Chalupa said that falling behind early was a result of the Huskies not playing up to the speed of the Mustangs.

“They moved the ball around quicker than we were,” Chalupa said. “We just weren’t expecting them to move as fast as they did and our blockers and hitters weren’t up as far as they were, so up at the net they were kind of just shutting us down. And, defense was moving slow also so we just weren’t moving quite as fast as they were in the moment.”

The Huskies dropped the first set 17-25, but were able to bounce back and grab an early 4-1 lead in the second set. After grabbing a quick lead, BVN raced back on an 8-0 run before Haggerty would call a timeout for the Huskies with them trailing 4-9. The Huskies would never bring the score closer in the remainder of the set than 11-15, going on to lose the second set as well, 17-25.

Despite getting swept, Haggerty said the Huskies loss did not fall on the shoulders of the seniors.

“They battled, I really challenged them this year to be more demanding, step out of their comfort zones… and they really came through,” the head coach said after the conclusion of her 11th season with the Huskies. 

Chalupa said in spite of the disappointment of a second-straight substate loss, she would take away plenty of memories from her career as a Husky.

“When I look back on my career I’m just going to remember all the memories, good and bad,” Chalupa said, “of both the team and Haggerty and all my coaches. This is some of the best coaching that I’ve ever received in my life.”