Platte County again went out of state to start the season but this time knowing a big change awaits down the road. The Pirates won a three-team pool and went on to finish third in the Lincoln Northeast Blastoff Classic this past Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Coming off a stretch of three trips to the state semifinals in the past five years, Platte County prepares to move up from Class 4 to Class 5 for this year’s postseason. That puts even more importance on finding the right combination of attacking players to set up for a more difficult push to reach the playoffs again.
Platte County swept both Lincoln and Lincoln Southeast in the morning pool play.
Against Lincoln Southeast, Platte County senior Malin Cole — moving from the inside to outside attacker — recorded 11 kills, just off of her career high set last season in a 25-23, 25-17 victory. Emma Macaluso, another three-year starter for the Pirates, added six kills from the middle, while junior Emma Brinkman started alongside her and accounted for four more plus a team-high two blocks.
Already without three-time all-state outside hitter Karlee Riggs, Platte County also played the tournament without sophomore Miah Omoike, a year after a breakthrough freshman season where she helped the Pirates place fourth in state in Class 4.
Platte County returned half of last year’s two-setter combination, and senior Carissa Bacon recorded 11 assists, while sophomore Ella Cruce led the way with 12. Bacon also rotates to the right side and had four kills, and junior Kate Brunner and sophomore Charlotte Schlake added three apiece.
A returning Class 4 all-state performer, Platte County senior libero Gia DeRose led the defense with 17 digs, and she added nine in the 25-18, 25-13 sweep of Lincoln. The Pirates were also stronger from the service line with four aces — one each for Bacon, Cole, Brinkman and senior Evelyn Reith — while only having one against Southeast. Reith accounted for the only one in that matchup.
The offense ended up more spread out against Lincoln with Cole again leading the way at seven in the two-set matchup. Her career0high of 14 came in a four-set loss to St. Michael’s the Archangel last season. In addition, Macaluso and Bacon followed with four apiece, while Brinkman and Brunner chipped in three each.
Cruce led Platte County in both assists (13) and digs (11).
After earning the No. 2 seed, Platte County’s lone loss of the weekend came in the bracket play against Gretna East in three sets (25-20, 15-25, 25-16). The Pirates were again spread out on offense with Brunner putting up a career-high nine kills and Cole (five), Brinkman (four) and Bacon (four) rounding out the top attackers.
Brinkman added three of Platte County’s eight service aces, and Cruce equaled her for the match-high in addition to leading the Pirates with nine assist. DeRose (16) and Bacon (10) both finished in double figures for digs while nearly helping lead a comeback after dropping the first set.
Bouncing right back, Platte County swept Lincoln Northeast 25-19, 25-23 in the third-place match and just avoided another third-set tiebreaker against the hosts.
Six players for Platte County totaled at least four kills in the match with Macaluso and Brunner at five apiece and Bacon, Cole, Brinkman and Schlake right behind at four. The Pirates held on after committing just five attacking errors compared to 14 for Lincoln Northeast.
In the loss to Gretna East, Platte County ended up with 18 attack errors across the three sets.
Cole showed her increased versatility with a team-high nine digs against Lincoln Northeast while DeRose and Cruce added seven apiece. Bacon’s 15 assists were the most for her in the season’s first four matches, which resulted in a 3-1 record for the Pirates in the loaded early portion of the schedule.
Platte County now jumps straight into conference action at home Tuesday vs. Ruskin and on the road Thursday against Truman.
