Cedar Valley Knocked Out of State Volleyball

Although West Point’s Guardian Angels Central Catholic volleyball team entered the Class D1 state volleyball tournament with 10 losses, the Bluejays were far from the normal #6 seed in the tourney field.
Cedar Valley, seeded #3 after qualifying for its second straight state tournament appearance, found that out with a 25-17, 25-21, 25-23 loss to G.A. Central Catholic in first-round play Thursday at Grand Island Northwest High School.
Guardian Angels got off to a very fast start in the match, racing to leads of 6-0 and 14-4. Cedar Valley slowly rallied, cutting the margin to 22-16 before the Bluejays used a 3-1 finish for the 25-17 victory.
It was more of the same in the second set as Central Catholic opened with a 6-1 lead and took an 18-7 advantage with a strong run. Cedar Valley fought back to 22-20 before running out of steam and falling 25-21.
The Lady Mavericks jumped out to early leads of their own in set three, going up 5-1, 8-3 and 10-5 before Guardian Angels knotted the score at 12-12. It was back and forth from there, with Central Catholic forging a 24-21 advantage and finally winning the set and match, 25-23.
“They were a big team that played tough at the net,” CV Coach Todd Beck said of G.A. Central Catholic, which plays a schedule of predominately larger-class schools as a member of the Mid-State Conference. “They hit aggressively and we never really did get in system and hit at them.”
Cedar Valley finished the 2011 season 25-7 and ranked 5th in the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal-Star.