KEARNEY – The Fort Kearny Conference third place and championship matches are now set after an exciting semifinal night. Ansley-Litchfield won a five set thriller over Amherst 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 22-25, 15-13. Overton won in straight sets over Pleasanton 25-20, 26-24, 25-20, setting up a show down between the sixth seeded Spartans and the three time defending conference champions, Overton.
In a year where the FKC crown is more up for grabs than previous seasons, it was evident in the first semifinal match between Ansley-Litchfield and Amherst. Coming in as the six seed, Ansley-Litchfield paved their way to the title match behind a monster night from Kerry Ryan. She sparked the Spartans with seven first set kills to help guide them to the first set win. Ryan would follow that up with nine second set kills, enough to help hold off Amherst in the second and to give Ansley-Litchfield a 2-0 lead in the match. Amherst wouldn’t go away quietly. The Broncos would bounce back to win the third and fourth sets, taking advantage of numerous Spartan miscues and strong defensive play. Amherst would grab an early lead in the fifth set, but Ansley-Litchfield rallied late to stave off the Broncos and advance to the conference championship match. Ryan led all players with 34 kills in a dominating night. Madie Loy added 11 kills with four ace serves. Asia Lyon chipped in seven kills and Kiera Bailey finished with five kills. As a team, Ansley-Litchfield had nine ace serves but also finished with 13 service errors. In the loss, Amherst used a balanced offensive attack, led by Keelie Hagan’s 14 kills. Libby Mitchell added 12 kills and both Sadie Van Ranken and Brynne Fisher had nine kills. The Broncos had six ace serves with eight service errors.
The second semifinal didn’t go five sets, but the intensity and competitiveness was still evident. Overton found success in the first set as both Daisy Ryan and Gracen Hughes each finished with over five kills. The second set was more of the same, but Pleasanton seemingly had answers for the Eagle attack while thriving from the service line, finishing with three ace serves and nearly pulled out the set victory. The Bulldogs would continue to fight in the third set, but it was Overton down the stretch who was just too much for Pleasanton to overcome. Ryan led Overton with 17 kills and three ace serves. Hughes added 12 kills while Braelyn Florell finished with seven kills. As a team, Overton had six ace serves. Pleasanton was led by Brittany Riley’s nine kills and three ace serves. Emme Westland had six kills and Kenlie Zwiener chipped in five kills. The Bulldogs had 10 ace serves.
Overton will look to win their fourth straight FKC title, but will have to knock off Ansley-Litchfield who’s already beat the second and third seeds in the tournament. The championship match is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Pleasanton and Amherst will battle for third place at 6:00 p.m. Both matches will be played at Kearney High School and both will be broadcasted on KRVN 880AM, 106.9FM and krvn.com.
Listen to the matches below.
