Cedar sweeps LHNE on the court, drops two tourney games

NORFOLK — The Cedar Catholic volleyball team used a sweep over an old rival and a win in one-of-two matches in the Scotus Central Volleyball Tournament in Columbus to go .500 during a busy week after opening the 2023 campaign with three wins.

The Lady Trojans ended the week with a win over David City in the Scotus tournament in straight sets, 30-28 and 25-20, in the best-of-three-sets match after dropping the first two matches in the tournament to Bishop Neumann in the opening round at Columbus 27-25, 20-25 and 21-25 for their first loss of the season and then fell to Scotus Central 25-19, 21-25 and 20-25.

Cedar Catholic opened the week with a three-set sweep over Lutheran High Northeast in Norfolk on Aug. 29 25-16, 25-22 and 25-16.

In the final game of the tournament, the Lady Trojans held on for a 30-28 win in the first set with David City before taking set two 25-20 for the sweep.

Grace Wortmann paced the Lady Trojans in the match with nine winners to get her team back on track after back-to-back losses to open play in Columbus.

Lauren Bernecker tacked on four kills and added a couple of ace serves. Melayna McGregor set up the attack with 13 set assists, while Lyndsey Hamilton added six assists.

Bernecker sparked the defense with a pair of blocks at the net, while Katy Jones had 14 digs and Annika Kuehn contributed four.

In the loss to the hosts, Cedar Catholic saw a bit of a trend continue as it won the opening set by a 25-19 score and then dropped the next two sets to lose the match 2-1 to give the Lady Shamrocks their first win of the season.

McGregor set the tone in the match with eight kills, Bernecker added five, Wortmann slammed four and Lexi Eickhoff contributed three.

Bernecker and Addison Walter each hit three ace serves and McGregor also had nine set-assists. Hamilton matched her with nine.

Eickhoff had six blocks for the Lady Trojan defense; McGregor and Bernecker each had three.

Jones had 15 digs. In the first match against Bishop Neumann, Cedar Catholic went a couple of extra points before turning back the Lady Cavaliers and then dropped the next two sets.

Wortmann, Eickhoff and Bernecker led a really balanced attack with six winners each; McGregor and Walter each had five and Katelyn Arens added four.

McGregor had five ace serves and 19 assists. Hamilton had 10 set-assists.

Jones had 14 digs and 19 good passes in receiving the ball.

In the sweep over the Lady Eagles in the best-offive match on Aug. 29, the Lady Trojans had little trouble remaining undefeated at the time as the final scores might indicate.

McGregor had five kills. Kuehn, McGregor and Jones each had two ace serves and McGregor and Hamilton had 13 and 10 assists, respectively.

Jones had a dozen digs. Eickhoff had seven blocks while Jones had 14 good passes and Kuehn added nine.

The Lady Trojans were set to travel to Crofton to take on the Lady Warriors in a Mid-State Conference match on Sept. 5.

Cedar Catholic will be in another tournament Sept. 9 in Wakefield before a big triangular with Elgin Public-Pope John and Norfolk Catholic on Sept. 12 in Norfolk.

Cedar Catholic defeats David City 30-28, 25-20. CEDAR CATHOLIC (4-2): Grace Wortmann 9k, 1b, 1d, 8sr; Annika Kuehn 4d, 5sr; Lexi Eickhoff 2k, 1b; Lauren Bernecker 4k, 2a, 3b, 2d; McKinlee Lammers 8sr; Lyndsey Hamilton 1a, 6s; Melayna McGregor 3k, 1b, 3d, 13s, 8sr; Addison Walter 3k, 1b, 1d; Brynn Bernecker 1k, 1b, 1sr; Katy Jones 14d, 1s, 7sr. Scotus Central Catholic defeats Cedar Catholic 19-25, 25-21, 25-20. CEDAR CATHOLIC: Wortmann 4k, 1b, 2sr; Kuehn 6d, 12sr; Eickhoff 3k, 6b, 5sr; L. Bernecker 5k; 3a, 3b, 1sr; Faith Christensen 1sr; Katelyn Arens 1k, 1b, 1d; Hamilton 1a, 3d, 9s, ; Lammers 4d, 2s, 11sr; McGregor 8k, 3b, 2d, 9s, 17sr; Walter 2k, 3a, 1b, 4d, 1sr; Jones 1k, 15d, 1s, 12sr. Bishop Neumann defeats Cedar Catholic 25-27, 25-20, 25-21. CEDAR CATHOLIC: Wortmann 6k, 2d, 8sr; Kuehn 5d, 13sr; Eickhoff 6k, 4b, 1d; Christensen 3sr; Arens 4k, 2b; L. Bernecker 6k, 1a, 2b, 1s; Lammers 5d, 4sr; Hamilton 10s, 1sr; McGregor 5k, 5a, 1b, 3d, 19s, 2sr; Walter 5k, 1a, 3b, 1d, 1s; Jones 14d, 19sr.