The Times-Sentinel
Sports
November 1, 2018 | 1B
The Times-Sentinel
Garden Plain wins State title!
Travis Mounts/The Times-Sentinel
The Garden Plain Owls celebrate after winning the Class 2A State championship. The Owls beat Wabaunsee on Saturday in the title match for the school’s fourth title.
Owls secure fourth volleyball championship By Travis Mounts
The Times-Sentinel news@tsnews.com
The Garden Plain Owls are the Class 2A State volleyball champions. The Owls won their third State championship for head coach Gina Clark on Saturday. It’s the fourth State volleyball title in school history. The went 2-1 in Friday’s pool play, earning the runner-up spot in their pool and advancing to Saturday’s final four. Clark has taken the Owls to State five times since 2008, and has advanced to the second day of play each time. In addition to their three titles under Clark, the Owls have a second-place finish and a third-place finish. The Owls, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, faced No. 2 Smith Center in their Saturday morning semifinal. A potential rematch loomed with the top seed, undefeated St. Mary’s Colgan, which handed Garden Plain a 25-20, 25-20 defeat in Friday’s pool play. But the Owls’ weren’t thinking about a potential rematch. “Friday night, the only thing we talked about was Smith Center,” said Clark. While the Owls were a bit off
during play on Friday, they were sharp on Saturday. “We were confident and excited. We were confident because we felt we didn’t play as well on Friday as we could have. We had untapped potential,” Clark said. Garden Plain and Smith Center played an entertaining match, with the Owls winning 25-14, 17-25, 2518. The Owls had some trouble serving against Smith Center, but that was fine with Clark, who said the Owls are aggressive when serving. “It’s not unusual for us to miss three, four or five serves in a match, as long as you match it with aces,” she said. It turns out, the Owls didn’t need to worry about Colgan. Wabaunsee, the No. 6 seed in the tournament, eliminated the tournament’s top seed, giving them their first loss 2725, 25-22. Colgan didn’t ever recover from that loss, and fell 25-14, 25-17 in the third-place match. That left the Owls playing in the title match against a team they hadn’t prepared for. “I hadn’t spent much time scouting Wabaunsee,” Clark said. “We just went out and played.” The strategy worked. The teams battled back and forth through the first set, and were tied at 21. Wa-
Congratulations
Lady Owls Volleyball team!
baunse scored two straight points for a 23-21 lead and were poised to take the first set from the Owls. After a Garden Plain sideout made it 23-22, Wabaunsee got to set point at 24-22 with a sideout of their own. The first set turned around during a late timeout by Garden Plain. “I gave a silly question. I asked them, ‘How do you eat an elephant?’” Clark said. “I said, ‘We’re going to eat it one bite at a time.’” The Owls scored two straight points to tie the set at 24. Another sideout to Wabaunsee made it 2524. Then behind the serving of Alli Puetz, the Owls scored three straight points to win the set 27-25. That comeback fueled the Owls, who owned the second set. An early 2-1 lead quickly became a 15-7 advantage, forcing Wabaunsee to take a timeout. That was not enough to break Garden Plain’s momentum. The Owls quickly increased their lead to 20-10. Behind the serves of Natasha Dooley and then Nikole Puetz, the Owls finished off Wabaunsee and the celebration began. By the middle of the second set, Garden Plain’s victory seemed inevitable.
Travis Mounts/The Times-Sentinel
ABOVE: Students show support for the Owls. BELOW: Claire Clark hugs her mother, Gina Clark, after the Owls won the State championship.
See OWLS, Page 8B
Lady Owls 2018 State Volleyball Champs!
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Congratulations Lady Owls! 2A State Volleyball Champions!!
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