Meridian Volleyball Earns Berth At State Volleyball

JournalStar.com (article by Ron Powell) Lincoln Journal Star Friday November 4th

November 04, 2016

FIRTH — The nervous energy and the adrenaline of playing for a state volleyball tournament berth had been building the past two days.

It all busted loose for Meridian in the D1-1 district final Thursday.

Allison Klipp, Rylee Pieper and Halle Pribyl combined for 48 kills to pace the second-ranked Mustangs to a 24-26, 25-11, 25-17, 25-20 victory against defending state champion and No. 1 Johnson-Brock before an estimated 1,000 spectators.

“I know I couldn’t focus last night at all,” said Pieper, a 5-foot-9 outside hitter who finished with 17 kills and a pair of ace blocks. “We were all fired up already first period today at school. The teachers were telling us to calm down and I told them, ‘No, we’re ready to play right now. We’re going to get this done.’"

Meridian (24-5) had to get it done. Even though the Mustangs were fourth in the wild-card standings, the second- and third-place teams in the standings — Elgin/Pope John and Heartland — both lost in subdistricts Tuesday and were set to get the two wild-card spots into the state tournament if Meridian lost.

Now it’s Johnson-Brock (28-4) that will need one of those wild cards. The Eagles lost in the district final a year ago, but bounced back to win state a week later.

“We’ve been so close (to qualifying for state) the last few years, it’s nice to finally get there,” said Meridian coach Bob VanWesten.

“We played the best we have all year tonight. They knew what they had to do, and they knew they could do it.”

Meridian had to bounce back from a hard-fought first set that Johnson-Brock finally clinched with a kill by Kaitlynn Simon that broke a 24-24 tie and a Meridian hitting error after a long, hotly contested rally on set point.

“They didn’t seem rattled in the huddle after that set. They were still confident,” VanWesten said. “The way the second set started, that had to be a real boost of confidence.”

After the Mustangs blew through sets 2 and 3, they had to overcome an early 8-2, fourth-set deficit to close out the Eagles. A 12-2 run gave Meridian a 14-10 lead it never relinquished.

Pribyl, a 5-10 freshman, matched Pieper’s 17 kills and two ace blocks while also serving five aces. Klipp, another outside hitter, slammed 14 kills. Setter Erin Johnson put up 44 assists to ignite the Meridian attack while also producing four kills.

Libero Breanna Miller led a Meridian defense that made Simon and the Eagles’ 6-1 middle blocker, Fallon Stutheit, work for everything they got.

Stutheit, a Nebraska walk-on recruit, had a match-high 19 kills and registered four ace blocks. Simon added 11 kills. Johnson-Brock setter Brynn Westenburg accounted for 37 assists.

“Give them credit, Meridian got us out of rhythm with how well they were playing,” Johnson-Brock coach Tera Stutheit said. “Hopefully this will be a good learning experience in getting ready for next week.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ronpowell_ljs.