Bell City sweeps way to third place

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bell City senior Codie Lancaster would have preferred to play for first place Saturday.

But the four-year starter still appeared to have a great deal of fun competing in the Class 1 third-place match, which was her final match as a Cubs volleyball player.

Lancaster, often smiling and extremely vocal with her teammates on the court, recorded 17 assists, nine digs and four kills. Her effort helped Bell City sweep Santa Fe 25-20, 25-13 at the Municipal Auditorium.

Bell City has appeared in four of the past six state tournaments, earning one state title (2003), two third-place finishes (2005, 2008) and one fourth (2006).

Bell City was forced to play in this year's third-place match after posting the third-best record of the four Class 1 teams competing in Friday's round-robin play.

"It was kind of disappointing [to play for third] after yesterday, but we just knew that we could beat Santa Fe," Lancaster said. "We beat them yesterday, so we knew we just needed to get in here and play hard and we figured we could win third at least."

Lancaster had a tremendous high school career, finishing with 826 assists this season and 2,871 assists over her career.

Lancaster, who said she has not been contacted by any colleges to play volleyball but hopes to play next year, recorded 82 assists at the state tournament.

Against Sante Fe, Lancaster did what she has done numerous times this season. She set the ball in just the perfect location for freshman Jasmine Johnson to power a kill.

She helped Johnson finish the match with 17 kills. Johnson had an impressive start to game two when she put down five kills to help the Cubs take a 5-0 lead.

"I try to make it as easy for her as I can," Lancaster said about setting for Johnson. "If all she has to do is jump and hit the ball, then that's going to make her job super, super easy. ... She's pretty hard to stop when she gets on a roll. And I think the more I give it to her, and the faster I give it to her, the less she has to think about it. And she just puts it down."

Johnson has stepped up and taken on a lead role in her first year of high school, just like Lancaster did when she was a freshman. Johnson finished her freshman campaign with 461 kills and 500 digs.

"I really want to come back," Johnson said about playing in the state tournament. "This is a good experience. Yesterday I was [nervous] a lot. I guess I did good, but I can always improve."

Few people filled the stands at the 9 a.m. third-place match, but Lancaster, Johnson and the rest of the Bell City team looked energized to play.

The first game was close. It was tied 16-16, but Bell City pulled away by going on a 9-4 run to close it out. The Cubs brought that momentum into the second game, grabbing a 5-0 lead and never trailing.

"It was really disappointing yesterday that we couldn't play for first, but we came in here and said, 'We're not settling for fourth and we want third,'" junior Alicia Slagley said. "We just wanted to go out and play our hearts out and leave it all on the court. We saw the first day that experience is obviously a big part in it. But I thought we all played our part today and did very well."

Sherilyn Long recorded 18 digs, while senior Bethany Chilton added four digs.

"That was our ball," Bell City coach Erin Hoffman said about her team's performance. "It was good for us to go out playing Bell City volleyball. They definitely took charge today."