Sutton to host Palmyra in C2-5 final

For the first time since 2015, the Sutton volleyball team have themselves positioned to make a return trip to the state tournament, after advancing through the C2-6 Sub-District tournament in Superior with a convincing three-set, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18 win over Thayer Central in the first round.

Following the win over the Titans, Sutton had to battle back against Superior, after falling 25-20, 25-15 to the Wildcats in the first two sets, to claim three straight wins in the title match, beating Superior 25-13, 25-23, 15-7.

The Fillies improved to 24-6 and gained the fifth seed in the Class C-2 District final round this Saturday. Sutton will host the Palmyra Panthers, the winner of the C2-3 Sub-District Saturday night in the Sutton Dome beginning at 7 p.m.

The Panthers swept through Tri-County in the opening round of the C2-3 tournament, winning 25-12, 25-17, 25-13 before having to hold off the Centennial Broncos in the tournament title match, 19-25, 35-33, 25-17, 24-26, 16-14 to improve to 19-10 on the year.

THE FILLIES

The Fillies head into Saturday’s match led in serving by sophomore Kennedy Perrien with 54 aces, while two other sophomores follow Perrien, as Lily McCroden has 45 aces, while Reagan Robinson has served up 31 aces this season.

Sutton serves just under 91 percent as a team, converting on 1,714 of 1,892 total serves, while gaining 178 aces.

Sutton’s hitting leaders for the season thus far proves to be junior Alivia Huxoll with 286 kills, senior Reagan Vavricek has downed 228 kills, while McCroden has collected 172 kills in the 30 matches the Fillies have played.

Sutton, as a team, hits right at .155 for the year, and has converted on 2,394 of 2,837 hits (84.4%). Setting up the Fillies offense is senior setter Kate Griess. She has posted 1,533 total assists in her career; during her senior campaign Griess has 763 assists, an average of 25.4 assists per match.

Of Griess’ 2,309 set attempts this year, she has amazingly only had eight errors during the season, 99.7 percent.

On the defensive side of the net, block leaders prove to be Huxoll with 74, Griess has gained 39, senior Gracie Nuss has 23, and senior Julia George, who fought through the injury bug, has 18 blocks this year.

The dig charts have been led by libero Robinson with 307, an average of just over 10.2 digs per match.

Following Robinson is Griess with 245, McCroden with 237 and Vavricek with 225.

THE PANTHERS

Palmyra’s 2021 leaders coming to the Sutton Dome Saturday night proves to be junior Libbie Ball who has a team high 46 ace serves for the Panthers. Following Ball is junior Maddie Busch with 44 aces, senior Lillian Parolek with 31 and sophomore Faith Green with 26.

As a team, Palmyra serves at a 91.3 percent rate, converting on 1,593 of 1,745 total attempts with 190 aces.

The hitting leader for the Panthers is junior Rylie Hale-Keller who has 215 kills. Senior Kamrin Lippold has gained 213 kills, while Busch has 207 kills.

Palmyra has converted on 2,208 of its 2,654 hitting attempts (83.2%) and hits .156 on the year.

Ball is the Panthers’ setting leader with 695 assists, setting at a 99.1 percent rate, with just 18 set errors in 2,109 total attempts.

Defensively, blocking leaders are Cloe Hopkins, as the junior has 35 blocks, Lippold has gained 34 and Green, 20.

The dig chart is led by Parolek with 336, Busch has gained 257, Green, 176, and Ball, 173.