Jasmine Johnson, Bell City volleyball

The Bell City volleyball team has won district titles and qualified for the state tournament before.

It's nothing new for the Cubs.

But for Jasmine Johnson, it was a new experience.

The freshman middle blocker had 21 kills, including the match-winner, to left Bell City in a 25-22, 22-25, 25-20 victory against Bernie last week in the Class 1 District 2 tournament at Bell City.

She also had 32 digs and four aces in the match en route to all-district honors.

She followed that Saturday with 12 kills in a 25-19, 25-15 victory against Leopold in the state quarterfinals, sending the Cubs to the final four this weekend in Kansas City.

"Most of the time after Jasmine kills a few, people start to scoot back because they are ready for the hard hit," said senior Codie Lancaster, who took advantage of that to score some pints with dinks, "and then you just put it over the net [softly] and they're not ready for it."

Bell City coach Erin Hoffman is impressed with her freshman.

"She's really worked hard at the beginning of this year and throughout this year to be where she is at," Hoffman said. "Does it surprise me? No. That's what I expect out of her. And I'm going to expect more and more out of her every year. I'm not going to be satisfied with the way she plays."