Stuart Takes NVC Title On Friday Evening

2011 NVC TOURNAMENT WINNERS The Stuart Lady Bronocos won the NVC Volleyball Tournament last Friday night in O'Neill winning in five sets against the St. Mary's Lady Cardinals. Pictured are front row: (l-r): Emily Kaup, Samantha Sattler, Caitlin Kunz, Monica Vogel, Ashli Kunz, Kylie Stoltenberg and Shelby Paxton. Second row (l-r): Coach Stacey Dexter, Shyenne Dickau, Courtni Kunz, Brittany Hanzlik, Kayla Bouska, Trina Swanson, Tanisha Fahrenholz and Coach Sheryl Alder. The match went five sets with the Cardinals falling in five to the Broncos. The Cardinals started out the first match with a 24-26 win. Stuart countered winning the second 25-23 and the third 25-23. The Cards came back with winning the fourth for a tie but the Cards fell far short giving up 15-4 to the Broncos

Eagles Play Three In Mid-States Conference Tourney

The Eagles took on Guardian Angels CC the first round of the Mid States Conference Tournament.  O’Neill suffered a three set loss to GACC with scores of 25-16, 25-22, and 25-18.

“We never really got into a rhythm this game.  The first set we struggled with passing and then we did come back the second set to make it competitive,” said Coach Kaye Appleby. 

Alex Hedlund was the only player in double figures for kills with 12.  Molly Shane had eight kills, Katie Danielson had five kills, and Alyssa Sobotka and Lindsey Appleby had three and two respectively.

Defensively Molly Shane led with 12 digs.  Kelsey Appleby had nine digs followed by Alex Hedlund with eight, Alyssa Sobotka with seven digs, Lindsey Appleby with five digs, and Katie Danielson had four.

Kelsey Appleby had 28 set assists and Lindsey Appleby had two assists.

The Eagles played the Boone Central Cardinals in the second round of the tourney downing them in four sets:  22-25, 25-21, 25-17, and 25-17.

Katie Danielson and Molly Shane led the Eagles in digs with nine.  Kelsey Appleby followed close behind with eight digs while Alex Hedlund picked up seven digs.

At the net Alex Hedlund put down 15 kills to top the hitting charts.  Katie Danielson had nine kills and Molly Shane had seven kills.  Sobotka and L. Appleby had three and two kills respectively.

Setting for the hitters was Kelsey Appleby with 36 set assists and she put down four kills on second contact hits.

The Eagles had quite a few ace serves with Katie Danielson leading with four aces.  Alyssa Sobotka had three aces, Kelsey Appleby with two aces, and Hedlund and Shane each had one ace apiece.

O’Neill faced Pierce in the fifth place game.  It was a battle between the two teams with Pierce coming out on top after five sets:  17-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, and 11-15.

The first set it was tied at 10-10 and then the Blue Jays got a lead and kept it the rest of the set.  In the second set Pierce was up 14-9 after one rotation, and then the Eagles got on a roll with good serving by Molly Shane and a few errors by the Blue Jays to take the lead 16-15.  Alex Hedlund also had three aces in a row and Lindsey Appleby finished the set with two aces to get the win 25-22.

Set three was quite close.  The Eagles led by a couple of points late, but the Blue Jays tied it up at 21-21 and then had a service error to give the Eagles a chance to finish it off.  Kelsey Appleby served the next three points that included a kill by Hedlund and two errors by Pierce for the win.   Set four was tied at 15-15 before the Blue Jays pulled ahead to send it to game five.  In game five Pierce put up some strong blocks and the Eagles couldn’t get the kills they needed.

The Eagles had several players in double figures for digs.  Katie Danielson led with 17 digs followed by Alyssa Sobotka with 16 digs.  Molly Shane and Lindsey Appleby were close behind with 14 and 13 digs respectively.  Lindsey Appleby was serve receive leader with 22 while Alyssa Sobotka had 15 good serve receives.

Three Eagle hitters had double figures in kills:  Alex Hedlund led with 19 kills while Molly Shane and Lindsey Appleby had 12 kills each.

Kelsey Appleby had a season high with 47 set assists on the night.

“It was a good match by both team.   It came down to game five with a strong effort by all--we just couldn’t get much going against their tall blockers at the net that final set,” said Coach Appleby.  

O'Neill JH Ends Season With A Double Header

The O'Neill Junior High football team finished their season with a double-header on October 13th with a 18-0 victory over Wagner and a 0-38 loss against Valentine.

Thirty-nine boys were involved in junior high football this season.  The boys were divided up not by grade this season, but into "A" and "B" teams this year.  The "A" team was the competitive team while the "B" team was designated as the developmental squad.

The season began with a loss to Ainsworth on September 22nd, 0-22.  Five days later, the Eagles battled Ord losing 0-26.  A tough West Holt/Stuart squad entertained the Eagles on October 4th defeating them, 6-22.  

The Eagles then hosted a double-header with Wagner and Valentine.  The Eagles defeated the always tough Wagner team with a fine defensive showing, shutting out the visitors from South Dakota.  In an attempt to get the team the most games they could, they competed against Valentine on the same evening, with not as good of a result.

All of the coaches felt that much improvement was witnessed throughout the entire season.  The team will return seven starters next year and there is a lot of anticipation about next year's team.  Many of the boys are already working hard in the weight room in preparation for next year.

The Eagles were coached by James Burtwistle, Mike Peterson, Dale Jackson and Joyce Burival.

Cards Demolish Wallace 66-0 In First Round

JARED TOMJACK of St. Mary's carries the ball against Wallace last Thursday afternoon in the first round play offs held in O'Neill.

The St. Mary's Cards advanced to the next round of the Nebraska State Playoffs with a 66-0 win over the Wallace Wild Cats in O'Neill last Thursday. The Cards now set at 9-0 on the year.

Wallace took the ball first but Tait Sibbel struck faster when he intercepted the first pass attempt from Wallace giving the Cards the ball. Sibbel on a few plays led the Cards into the end zone for the Cards first score of the day.

Luke Loecker scored on the next possession for the Cards on a 10-yard touchdown run. Sibbel scored twice more in the first quarter on two short runs into the end zone.

Sibbel scored twice for St. Mary's in the second quarter. Sibbel hit Ryan Podany for a short touchdown pass and then ran in a 47 yard touchdown followed by a short pass to Kyle Loecker for the two point conversion. Ty Eiler again showed how dangerous he was on a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown with Tomjack running in the two point conversion. Sibbel scored his last touchdown of the game on a 15-yard touchdown and then threw to Luke Loecker for the two point conversion putting the Cards up 58-0.

The Wildcats couldn't muster any points for the score board in the second half. The Cards let the JV teams in the second half and Kyle Regan hit Lucas Schnieder for a 3-yard touchdown with Seth Miles running in the two point conversion to give the Cards a 66 point win.

The Cards will face Loomis on Wednesday, Nov. 2 and if the Cards win that they will advance to play on Tuesday, Nov. 8.