COLUMBUS, Neb. — Grand Island Central Catholic appeared to be a team on a mission Thursday night against host Columbus Scotus.

And who can blame it?

The Crusaders, No. 1 in the Class C-1 volleyball ratings, swept the No. 2 Shamrocks 25-17, 25-20, 25-19. It was the first time the teams have met since Scotus defeated Central Catholic for the state championship last year.

“I think our girls were looking forward to this one, after that last match at state,’’ Crusaders coach Sharon Zavala said. “We have all of our starters back from last year except our libero, so they definitely remember.’’

Central Catholic (6-0) also wanted the win for its head coach, who is closing in on the state record for victories. Zavala now has 792 wins, one behind the mark of 793 set by retired Lincoln East coach Myron Oehlerking.

“We were so excited about playing this match against Scotus,’’ Crusaders senior Jessica Wojcik said. “We wanted to get a little revenge after last year’s state tournament, and we wanted to help our coach get closer to that record.’’

Wojcik, who has orally committed to Regis University in Denver, did her part. She led the team with 12 kills, including five in the third set.

“I thought Jessica had an outstanding match,’’ Zavala said. “But we got a pretty solid effort from just about everybody tonight.’’

Scotus coach John Petersen agreed.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons,’’ he said, “and we made too many unforced errors. You just can’t do that against a team like them.’’

The Shamrocks (3-1) stayed close in all three sets, but the more experienced Crusaders managed to pull away each time.

In the first set, the score was 10-8 before Central Catholic went on a 10-3 run to open up a 20-11 advantage. The Crusaders eventually finished off the set when a shot by Scotus senior Tiffany Haney sailed long.

The Shamrocks were close again in the second set at 10-9 but Central Catholic once again used its experience and superior height to pull away. Wojcik and senior Steph Brand had three kills each in the set as the Crusaders posted a 25-20 win.

Zavala’s squad completed the sweep in the third set, pulling away from a slim 19-17 advantage to win 25-19. Senior setter Bailey Baxter had a pair of aces during that run, and a kill by junior Katie Brand ended it.

“There were a lot of errors on both sides of the net, but it’s still early,’’ Zavala said. “I think our senior leadership was the biggest factor in the match.’’

Katie Brand finished with nine kills for the Crusaders, Liz McGowan had eight and Brand’s sister Steph had seven. Baxter had 30 set assists for Central Catholic, which can hand its head coach the state record this weekend at the GICC Invitational.

“Nobody is letting me forget that,’’ Zavala said. “But the credit goes to the girls I’ve been lucky enough to coach.’’

Senior McKenzie Leu had nine kills to pace Scotus while junior Jordan Chohon added seven kills and 21 assists.

Grand Island CC (6-0) .............................25 25 25

Columbus Scotus (3-1)........................17 20 19

GICC (kills-aces-blocks): Jessica Wojcik 12-1-0, Bailey Baxter 0-4-0, Katie Brand 9-1-2, Liz McGowan 8-1-1, Steph Brand 7-1-2, Jamie Partington 4-0-0.

CS: Caitlin Wiehn 1-0-0, Lauren Hellbusch 2-0-0, Tiffany Haney 5-1-0, Lindsay McElhose 4-2-0, McKenzie Leu 9-1-0, Jordan Chohon 7-2-1, Olivia Sonderman 1-0-2.

Set assists: GICC 36 (Baxter 30, K. Brand 5, S. Brand 1); CS 21 (Chohon 21).

Contact the writer:

444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com

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