For the past three seasons the Nemaha Central volleyball team has ended the year at the place each team dreams about at the beginning of the season, the state tournament.

Next week the Thunder get to go back to place they can begin to call home after capturing a fourth consecutive sub-state championship Saturday at their home sub-state.

Nemaha Central started the day as the two-seed and easily won their first-round match beating Riley County in two sets 25-4 and 25-16.

In the semifinals the opponent got tougher with Concordia stepping onto the floor but once again the Thunder rolled in two sets winning set one in thriller 27-25 and the second 25-20.

That put Nemaha Central into the championship match against Sabetha who was the top overall seed and had picked up two-set wins over ACCHS and Maur Hill-Mount Academy already on the day.

The Bluejays had already beat the Thunder three out of four times on the year, but Nemaha Central won when it counted claiming the sub-state title with a three-set win 25-17, 24-26 and 25-19.

Nemaha Central now moves on to the state tournament on Friday in Hutchinson with a record of 27-14 and the No. 7 seed. The Thunder will have three pool play matches on Friday beginning with Frontenac and 9:30 a.m. followed by Royal Valley at 10:30 a.m. and Silver Lake at 12:30 p.m.