Falcons Top Neligh-Oakdale In All-Antelope County Matchup

In an all-Antelope County battle on Tuesday night, Elkhorn Valley handed Neligh-Oakdale its first loss of the season.

Elkhorn Valley, now 2-1, defeated Neligh-Oakdale (2-1) in three sets 25-20, 25-16, 25-23 in Tilden.

In a match that was closer than the score indicates, Elkhorn Valley earned the win just as Neligh-Oakdale was starting to find a rhythm. The Falcons returned their starting core while Neligh-Oakdale has a mix of players with starting experience but not a lot of game time playing together. 

The third and final set of the night was the most competitive. Fighting to force a fourth set, Neligh-Oakdale held a 20-15 advantage over the Falcons. Sophomore Hannah Ollendick hit a hard kill off of a double-block attempt by Warrior seniors Taylor Sehi and Nikki Grosserode to pull within four points.

Falcon sophomore Amber Miller then tied the set at 20-all when she caught the Warriors off guard with a tip across the net, falling perfectly at the feet of three diving Warriors. But Neligh-Oakdale responded and forced an error to retake the lead, 21-20. 

The lead bounced back and forth due to errors until the Falcons went ahead 24-23 when senior Shelby Cakebread hit a line drive on the left side of the court that landed just inside the line. The match ended on a Warrior hitting error, 25-23.

The Falcons' synergy was evident right off the bat as they powered out to a quick 11-5 lead in the first set. Grosserode stopped the momentum with a well-time ace serve to fire up Neligh-Oakdale and start a run to knot the score at 13-all. 

Three straight errors by the Warriors on both hitting and serve receive proved fatal as Elkhorn Valley regained the momentum and didn't allow Neligh-Oakdale any closer and claimed the 25-20 win in the first.

The Warriors burst out to an early lead in the second set. Tied at 4, Kinsley Klabenes put down a kill to start the 5-0 run leading to a 9-4 Neligh-Oakdale advantage. Senior Falcon setter Liz Osborn connected with classmate Alyssa Rood for the kill to stop the run and halt the momentum. Elkhorn Valley eventually stole both the lead and momentum for the 25-16 second-set win.

Neligh-Oakdale senior Chase Vleck led the team in attacks with seven kills. Grosserode added four more while Sehi finished with three blocks.

Neligh-Oakdale won both the junior varsity and "C" team matches earlier in the night.