When senior Rayah Foltz put down the final point for the Cardinals to complete the sweep over Tonganoxie Thursday night, a sea of pink roared and flooded the court.
The point secured the team’s victory over the Chieftains on the annual Pink Out Night.
Foltz said the extra energy from the home crowd on the special night helped the Cardinals get the win.
“The home court advantage was huge for us tonight. I think our student section did a lot of the work for us,” Foltz said.
Senior Ellie Suber said the Cardinals were motivated by the festivities of Pink Out Night as well because the team was playing for something bigger than volleyball.
“Everyone knows someone that has fought cancer, and that just makes the night that much more special to every player that’s out there because we know that we are playing for a cause,” Suber said. “People really showed up tonight and supported us.”
The home crowd got to enjoy an entertaining volleyball match as well.
The Cardinals started the first set strong as they jumped out to an early 4-1 lead after junior Addy Hemphill used her soft touch to earn the team’s fourth straight point.
With the Cardinals now up 9-6, a long rally between the teams ensued and ended with a controversial call that awarded Tonganoxie the point.
The call got the Cardinals fired up as they ignited an 8-3 scoring run afterwards.
Head coach Brooke Hopper said even though the team wasn’t happy with the call they weren’t going to let it dwell on them.
“Our goal is to move on to the next ball. So, while I might get my comment in, it’s very important for me to move on to the next ball as well and just let it be what it is,” Hopper said. “And if we still feel that it was a wrong call, then I just tell the girls to prove it. Prove that it was the wrong call and go finish a ball even harder, and that’s exactly what they did.”
At 17-10 now, Tonganoxie came out of a timeout with some extra juice to make the set close again as they scored four straight points.
Hemphill made a couple of plays down the stretch of the set that helped the Cardinals put the Chieftains away though.
Hemphill lunged for a ball to save a point at 20-14 and then made the final kill to put the first set away at 25-21. Hemphill had 11 kills on the night.
The Cardinals controlled the second set from start to finish as the team went up 7-1 early in the set and didn’t take their foot off the gas.
Suber said the team did a good job of staying locked in during the second set.
“I think we were doing really well just staying focused on where the ball was at and kind of anticipating what their next play would be without them doing it,” Suber said. “Also, our aggressive serving helped out in that set.”
Suber made a kill at the end of the set to help the Cardinals win it 25-14. Suber had four kills and two aces against Tonganoxie.
The Cardinals hit a bit of a roadblock in the third set, however, as the Chieftains went up 8-4 early in the set.
Hopper used one of her timeouts to get the Cardinals settled down.
“I said, ‘Listen, we have got to get a first ball kill. We got to use this opportunity. We got to keep them off of the net. We know tips are coming at us. They haven’t been able to put a ball down. We know what they’re going to do. We’re making this a lot harder than it needs to be at this point,’” Hopper said.
Tonganoxie remained in control for much of the set and things were starting to look like they would be heading into a fourth set.
But Foltz made a big kill to give the Cardinals a point with the Chieftains up 20-17 and get the crowd back into it.
After a long serve by Tonganoxie, the Cardinals got the serve back down 24-22. The team scored two straight points to tie it up at 24 and force a win-by-two finish.
Suber said the Cardinals did a good job of remaining focused with everything going on around them.
“The ‘next ball’ or ‘this ball’ mentality really helped us, especially whenever we had a little bit of a mistake,” Suber said. “It helped whenever we were there to pick each other up.”
With the crowd leaning on every point down the stretch, Foltz made the final kill to put everyone into a frenzy.
Foltz said she was filled with joy after the big play to complete the Cardinals’ comeback in the final set and give them the 27-25 win.
“It was just so exciting to turn around to my teammates. Everyone’s yelling, getting excited to bring it home to the student section and home crowd was awesome,” Foltz said.
The Cardinals move on to play their rivals Baldwin once again, but this time on the home floor.
Hopper said she is looking forward to another big crowd for the rivalry match.
“I have no doubt there will be another fantastic crowd. The girls said everybody comes out to this one,” Hopper said. “Even when we played at Baldwin last week, we still had a student section there. We had some great kids come out and support us. So, I know when it’s at home, it’s going to be similar to tonight and it’s going to be a similar fight.”
The Cardinals take on the Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. Monday.
Watch the Kaw Valley State Bank post-game show to hear more from Suber, Foltz and Hopper.
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].
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