Lady Eagles Defeat Creighton In Five

The Lady Eagles have been busy this past week playing Creighton and Norfolk Lutheran High Northeast.

O'Neill vs. Creighton

The Eagles traveled to Bulldog territory and won the battle in five sets:  21-25, 16-25, 25-14, 25-12, and 15-10.

The first two sets the Bulldogs played with excitement and had the momentum while the Eagles were plagued with too many unforced errors.

The Eagles got off to a good start the third set with the help of Molly Shane's serving.  Shane served three aces in a row and scored four points total to give the Eagles the advantage at 6-2.  By the end of one complete rotation the Eagles led 15-8 and kept the lead the entire set.

Set four O'Neill got a decent lead by the end of one complete rotation with a score of 16-7 and 21-8 at the top of the second rotation.  This win pushed the match to a fifth set where the Eagles continued to hold on to the momentum for the victory 15-10.

It was a balanced attack for the Eagles with three players in double figures for kills.  Alex Hedlund led with 14 kills while Lindsey Appleby followed with 12 kills, and Molly Shane added 11 kills.  Katie Danielson and Alyssa Sobotka put down four and three kills respectively.

Defensively Alex Hedlund and Kelsey Appleby led the team with 13 and 12 kills respectively.  The serve receive leaders were Lindsey Appleby with 12 good receives, and Alyssa Sobotka with 10.

The team had 11 ace serves on the night, but it ended up a wash with errors.  Molly Shane had four aces, Alyssa Sobotka had three aces, and Katie Danielson and Lindsey Appleby had two apiece.

"The Bulldogs played very well the first two sets, and we had too many unforced errors early on.  I was glad we cleaned up our play and turned it around to rally back the last three sets," commented Coach Kaye Appleby.  

O'Neill vs. Lutheran High 

Northeast 

It was the Eagles versus the Eagles in action last Thursday with the undefeated Lutheran High Northeast Eagles hosting the O'Neill Eagles.  Lutheran High came out on top with scores of 26-24, 25-21, and 25-15.

The first set O'Neill played well jumping to a 4-0 lead and leading 12-10 after a complete rotation.  LHNE led after two rotations 21-18, but O'Neill came back to tie it at 24-24.  Two kills in a row by Liz Gebhardt gave them the win 26-24.

Set two was close up to 17-17 when LHNE got a run of points to go up 23-17.  O'Neill couldn't make up the point difference before they scored 25-21.  Set three was tied at 9-9, but then they pulled ahead and kept the lead.

O'Neill had an even attack going with Alex Hedlund leading with 12 kills, followed by Lindsey Appleby with 11 kills, and Molly Shane with 10 kills.  Katie Danielson and Kelsey Appleby had three kills each while Alyssa Sobotka had two kills.

Defensively Molly Shane dug up 11 attacks, Lindsey Appleby had 10 digs, and Kelsey Appleby had 9 digs.  Hedlund and Sobotka had eight and seven digs respectively.  Lindsey Appleby was top serve receiver with 13 good receives.

Hedlund, Shane, and L. Appleby all had one block apiece.  Kelsey Appleby handled the setting with 36 assists and Lindsey Appleby with two assists.

Kelsey Appleby served up three aces and Molly Shane scored on one ace serve.

"I was pleased with our efforts against a very solid Lutheran High team," commented Coach Kaye Appleby.  "Our play was strong, we got after it defensively, and we didn't commit very many errors."