Pius X rallies to beat Southwest - Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Pius X looked lost early on in Tuesday’s match against Southwest. Coach Jake Moore admitted as much afterward.

But after a first-set 25-16 loss in which the Thunderbolts allowed Southwest to score the first eight points of the match, Pius X responded with 25-22, 25-22 and 25-21 wins to upset the No. 3 ranked Silver Hawks 3-1.

“Not a lot of people are expecting a lot out of us this year,” Moore said. “We graduated a lot of people and we’ve got people in different spots, but the girls that came back from last year really have stepped up.”

Those returning players played a key role in the Thunderbolts’ comeback, as senior Ashley Witt, senior Sydney Townsend and junior Kaitlin Van Loon combined for 46 kills, and junior Sara Booth led the team with 40 assists.

“(Witt, Townsend and Van Loon) really had nice matches offensively and Sara did a nice job moving the ball around,” Moore said.

Witt was particularly effective late in the match, with eight of her 15 kills coming in the final set, which was back and forth until Pius X finally pulled away late.

“She’s got to be a vocal leader for us, and that’s what we told her,” Moore said of Witt. “She was a big factor for us late in the match tonight.”

On the other side of the net, senior standout Marysa Wilkinson had a match-high 30 kills for Southwest, but the Thunderbolts did a nice job limiting her chances after she tallied 10 kills in the first set. The next closest in kills for Southwest was senior Kaylyn Fern, who had seven in the match.

“Marysa is a great player for them,” Moore said. “We knew she was going to get a ton of swings; we just wanted to make somebody else beat us besides her.”

The Thunderbolts made the necessary adjustments after the first set, playing the ball away from Wilkinson whenever possible and ramping up the intensity of their own offensive attack. VanLoon was critical in getting Pius X back into the match with a dominating eight-kill performance in the second set. The Thunderbolts owned a 19-9 lead at one point in the second set, a drastic turnaround after such a lopsided opening-set loss.

“We always talk about staying disciplined, especially during games,” said VanLoon, who had a team-high 17 kills for Pius X. “I think the momentum definitely grew when we started getting those kills, and it helped us keep our energy up.”

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