Coach Emily Vaughn looked to one of her two seniors to a core position as Cameron Rutjens moved into setting responsibilities.
Vaughn was set on maintaining a 6-2 rotation and even more on having three setters to rotate through running it. So when Elkhorn Valley took the court in O’Neill for the second match of the season, it was Rutjens making her season debut in her newest slot in the rotation alongside returning starting setter Ashley Schutt.
“We didn’t know where our youthfulness with Joni (Qualset) was going to take us. So we talked about it, and we kind of worked that way through the summer,” Vaughn said She said Qualset is just as ready to go, but to her senior, Rutjens went “above and beyond” earliest expectations to help lead the Falcons through a tough fought sweep loss.
“We could have lost in three sets or five sets or even came out as the winners, and the way we played tonight, our energy level, I thought our girls dod a good job across the board. We never gave up,” Vaughn said.
If any point was the hardest to get past, it was the 24th. Elkhorn Valley led through a good chunk of the first set but fell 25-20. Then down to set point in the second, the Falcons fought back to tie it at 24-all and force its own set point before again dropping 28-26.
Fans in the student section rushed to the O’Neill locker room corner, ready to usher in an Eagles sweet when match point arrived. The Falcons again made the O’Neill faithful endure a lengthy wait, taking more points and even forcing a timeout before the third set was clinched.
Vaughn said it was a night of great consistency and resilience, though their opponent just kept finding the right place at the right time as well as making the right plays to counter her Falcons.
“I think we’ve got athletic enough girls that we can run a fairly-productive 6-2 and have a lot of hitters,” she said.
Rutjens and Schutt worked nearly identically in efficiency, combining for 27 of the team’s 30 assists and recording 10 combined kills of their own. Six different Falcons earned kills, though no hitter worked a county higher than six as Elkhorn Valley worked to establish their main weapons early.
Junior Ava Koch along with Schutt and Rutjens led a wall at the net that worked a combined 10 blocks, and sophomore Kenley Poulsen dug 22 balls.
After Thursday’s sweep loss at defending Class C2 runner-up Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, Elkhorn Valley gets its shot this week to see that completed rotation start to turn out wins.
Tuesday’s triangular in Neligh against Stanton and the hosting Warriors represents the earliest and sole chance to work for it this week.
Tuesday, September 1
Elkhorn Valley 20 26 21 O’Neill 25 28 25 Elkhorn Valley: Willow Taake 6k, 1a, 14d; Olivia Werner 4k, 1a, 1b, 16d, 2sa; Ava Koch 6k, 6b, 11d; Cameron Rutjens 4k, 4b, 11d, 13sa; Kinley Poulsen 4k, 2a, 3b, 22d; Ashley Schutt 6k, 5b, 13d, 14sa; Gentry Poulsen 7d, 1sa.
Thursday, September 3
Elkhorn Valley 17 13 18 Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 25 25 25 Elkhorn Valley: Willow Taake 1k, 12d; McKenzie Daniel 1d; Joni Qualset 3k; Olivia Werner 3k, 1a, 7d,; Ava Koch 5k, 2b, 4d; Cameron Rutjens 2k 1b, 8d, 9sa; Kinley Poulsen 8k, 2a, 11d, 1sa; Ashley Schutt 3k, 6d, 8sa; Gentry Poulsen 12d.
