Northwest swept Omaha Gross Catholic 25-15, 25-18, 29-27 as Ava Janulewicz became the Vikings’ career kills leader Thursday night in the Class B, District 5 semifinals, (Terry Douglass, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND — Northwest swept Omaha Gross Catholic 25-15, 25-18, 29-27 as Ava Janulewicz became the Vikings’ career kills leader Thursday night in the Class B, District 5 semifinals.
The win advanced No. 10-rated (Omaha World-Herald) and second-seeded Northwest into Saturday’s B-5 district final at top-seeded and No. 5-rated Waverly (28-5). First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m.
Janulewicz led Northwest with 18 kills, while Elli Payne had 15 kills and five aces and Nasya Anderson finished with 10 kills. Kenna Bowman recorded 41 assists and 16 digs, while Halle Rice had 12 digs for the Vikings (23-10).
Already Northwest’s record-holder for kills in a season, Janulewicz now has 416 kills this season and 785 for her career. With her first kill against Omaha Gross (18-14), Janulewicz passed previous Vikings’ all-time leader McKenzie Brown (2010-13) in just her sophomore season.
Northwest controlled the first two sets, taking a 17-11 lead in the first before finishing with an 8-4 run and clinching it on an Anderson kill. The Vikings raced to an 8-1 lead to start the second set and forced a second Gross timeout by building a 21-14 advantage.
Trailing 22-17 in the third, Northwest embarked on a 12-5 run to complete the sweep.
The Vikings are 0-2 in two previous meetings with Waverly, losing 2-0 in the Beatrice Invitational on Sept. 6 and 3-0 at Waverly on Sept. 18.