Aquinas beats Miege in four games to win EKL volleyball title

Memories of the last time the St. Thomas Aquinas volleyball team played host to Bishop Miege on Senior Night danced in the heads of Kelsey Sullivan, Megan Baska and Liz Gohde during the build-up to Tuesday’s showdown between the top two teams in Kansas 5A.

It hadn’t ended well for the Saints, who are currently ranked No. 2 behind Miege by the Kansas Volleyball Association.

“For the three of us who were sophomores the last time we played them on senior night, we remember how it felt to lose that match for our seniors and we didn’t want to go through that again,” Sullivan said.

But a jittery Saints team gave away 12 points in the opening game of the best-of-five contest, which also would determine the East Kansas League title, before rallying to win the next three games and claim a 19-25, 25-18, 26-24, 25-21 victory.

“We came out tense and kept making errors, so everybody tightened up more,” said Sullivan, who had seven kills in the match. “But we came back and whooped them.”

With boisterous student sections shouting chants to and fro and packed stands on both sides of the court, it’s no surprise that Aquinas came out a touch tense as the home team.

“This game had more intensity than state I think, because we don’t get this many fans for state,” said senior Margaret Clark, who led Aquinas with nine kills. “I’ve never been part of a game like this.”

The Saints, 25-3, had plenty to play for beyond senior night and even the EKL championship, which the Stags had won the previous three seasons. Aquinas also vividly remembers losing last year’s 5A title game to Miege, a program that now owns 18 state volleyball championships.

“That was definitely in the back of our mind and it’s the first time we’ve seen Miege this year,” Baska said. “We wanted to come out and send a message for state this year.”

The match took its biggest turn late in the third game. The Stags, 24-4, were in the midst of a four-point run that pushed their lead to 23-20 as the visitors threatened to grab a 2-1 lead.

But a couple of Miege errors opened the door for an Aquinas rally.

The Saints won four of the next five points to steal game three and then surged to victory in the fourth game.

The win lifted the Saints to their first EKL championship since 2005.

“It was back and forth the whole entire match, but we just played smart,” Aquinas coach Kim Bogart said. “Megan Baska is a phenomenal defensive player for us and she dug a lot of stuff for us.”

submitted by TOD PALMER - 2009-10-13 23:07:01

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