In a rematch of this past weekend's HTRS tournament game, the Falls City Sacred Heart Irish and HTRS Titans squared off in the MUDECAS B Division Championship on Thursday evening in Beatrice, Nebraska. HTRS came into the match supporting a 9-4 record and was fresh off winning its home invite this past Saturday. The Sacred Heart Irish started the year 2-6 but since that point are 4-1 and came into the match with a 6-7 record overall.

That one loss though, was this past weekend when it fell to HTRS 2 sets to 1. However, Thursday night it was all Sacred Heart in a 25-16, 25-12 sweep of the Titans. Two weeks ago, the MSC Sports team published an article about Sacred Heart setter Daycee Witt reaching the 1,000 career assist mark. In the article, Daycee noted that “we are going to have to work for this season and earn it if we want to make it to the State Tournament.” At 1-5, things looked bleak, and improvement was definitely needed. Now at 7-7, the Irish train is picking up steam at just the right time.

For the Titans, it’s a disappointing finish to a rather strong six game stretch. However, at 9-5, all goals for the season are still right there on the table. They’ll continue their season next Tuesday when they host Sterling in Tecumseh. The Irish even their record at 7-7 on the year. They will host a home triangular next Tuesday with Pawnee City and Southern.

In the MUDECAS A Division Championship, the Johnson County Central Thunderbirds took their 10-0 undefeated record into a rematch with arguably their toughest opponent of the season. Freeman supported an 11-2 record coming in with a loss to the T-Birds and to Class C1 Wayne. Fans knew they were in for a battle and boy did they see one.

In the first set, the Thunderbirds and Falcons traded punches the entire way and fans received some free volleyball as the T-Birds needed an extra point to take set 1 26-24. The second set was no different with the Falcons and T-Birds trading punches, but a late Falcon run would allow them to take set 2 25-21.

Many anticipated the third set to go the same route, but it was far from it as the T-Birds took absolute control on the back of 6’3” Senior Ashlee Beethe. The Thunderbirds won the third set 25-7 and ran away with it in the end scoring the last seven points of the match. Beethe had a kill or played a major part in six of those last seven points.

The Thunderbirds now support an 11-0 record, have lost just one set all year, and sit at #3 in the Class C2 wildcard point standings behind Norfolk Catholic and Guardian Angels Central Catholic. They aren’t currently scheduled to play another Division 1 opponent (one with a record over .750) unless they would meet one in a weekend tournament or the conference tournament. The T-Birds haven’t just cemented themselves as a state tournament qualifier – they are starting to turn heads as a Class C2 championship contender. They’ll continue their season next Thursday when they travel to Southern.