Olathe Northwest wins second straight Kansas 6A volleyball championship
After winning the first set in the Kansas 6A championship volleyball match Saturday at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, defending champion Olathe Northwest showed why it wasn’t going to let the title slip away.
The Ravens trailed 15-10 to Blue Valley West in the second set and then turned up their intensity to forge ahead 22-16. Olathe Northwest never gave the Jaguars a chance to regroup.
Olathe Northwest came away with a 25-18, 25-18 victory over Blue Valley West and claimed its second straight state title. It was the third straight year the two teams have met in the championship match.
“It is easy to win the game you are not supposed to, but it is harder to win the one you are expected to,” said Olathe Northwest senior Taylor Kuper. “This year we came together and were so confident in each other. We meshed well.”
The Ravens, who finished 40-4, came out firing. They quickly built a 6-0 lead, in part, because of the hitting of Kuper and the setting of freshman Courtney Jackson.
“She (Jackson) is very seasoned and successful,” Kuper said of her young teammate. “She knows what she is doing. She doesn’t play like a freshman. That really helped us.”
Blue Valley West, 37-6, never threatened the Ravens in the first set. But the Jaguars showed midway through the second set why they have been one of the top volleyball programs in Kansas 6A.
The Jaguars turned a slim 10-9 advantage into a 15-10 lead, putting momentum on their side.
“I believe senior Makenzie Lake was serving for us,” said Blue Valley West coach Jessica Kopp. “That was a position she hasn’t been in a lot. I was proud of her going in and serving in a state championship match. Our energy was good, and we were executing things the way we execute them in practice.”
Olathe Northwest coach Barry Lenth had faith his team would respond to the challenge presented by Blue Valley West.
“We knew Blue Valley West was a really good team,” Lenth said. “The last timeout we took when we were down, I told them that I was confident that if you can play at the level we have been playing, we can come back and win this and they did.”
Olathe Northwest never showed the jitters of a team trying to repeat. A solid kill by Kuper put a halt to the Jaguars’ run.
After Blue Valley West responded to Kuper’s kill for a 16-11 lead, Olathe Northwest scored the next 11 points for a commanding 22-11 advantage. The play of juniors Abigail Copeland and Lindsey Heller helped the Ravens take control of the match.
“Every time we came to the middle, we told each other to have confidence and play with communication,” Copeland said. “When we talk, we build each other’s confidence, which makes us play together as a team. It was a team effort. Everybody was picking everybody up.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Olathe Northwest wins second straight Kansas 6A volleyball championship."