“Tonight we knew Underwood would be ready,” said Brandon-Evansville Head Coach Kelly Olson. “The conference championship was on the line. We win and we have it outright. We lose and we have to win next week in Ashby to share the title. I think we surprised them when we met earlier during the season, and I knew they would be ready to play. We jumped them pretty quick that first set and we took advantage of their mistakes. The second set started and they pushed the ball deeper and had some timely kills and tips. Emma Fitzgibbons really started to play well for them. I think we lost her during the second and third, and even into the forth sets. With Underwood taking sets two and three we had a lot of work to do. They controlled the momentum halfway through the fourth set when we seemed to find something out there. A block, a kill, a covered tip, an ace or two and that momentum shifted. We had just enough to win the fourth and carry us through the fifth set victory. We had some great plays, none bigger than Brittany Korkowski’s kill to get us up 14-12 in the last set. The last kill by Bailey Schaefer got us the match win. Not lost on the night was Madison Quinn setting her 1000th assist. She has worked hard and finishing the night with 44 assists, a win, and a conference championship, is a great way end to the match.” 

Quinn (44 set assists, 5 ace serves, 4 kills), Schaefer (27 kills, 3 blocks), Korkowski (11 kills), Kailee Klimek (7 kills, 8 digs) and Sara Jacobson (8 digs, 4 aces) led the way for the Chargers. 

“It was a conference thriller,” said Head Coach Diane Ross of the Rockets. “I thought we played very well at times. After set one, our defense really picked up the play and we were in good control in sets 2 and 3. We had a narrow lead in set 4 but Brandon got hot again and took us out of our offense. Set 5 was a battle with both teams playing good ball, but the Chargers put the ball away in the end and won. It was a disappointing loss, but we have to move on and learn from our mistakes.” 

Emma Fitzgibbons led the attack with 13 kills, followed by Shaynah Smith with 8, Brooke Hovland 7, and Ceri Meech added 4. Daityn Beske added 16 assists and Emma Fitzgibbons added 9. Emma also led in digs with 16, followed by Kayla Rocholl with 13, and Izzy Dahl added 11. Shaynah Smith had 5 ace blocks, Ceri Meech added 3 ace blocks, and Brooke Hovland had 2 ace blocks. 

Underwood is 14-9 overall and 7-2 in the conference. They will finish up conference play on Thursday against Ashby, before heading into their final season tournament.

Brandon-Evansville is 13-4 overall and unbeaten (9-0) in the Little Eight Conference. They will play in the Marshall Tournament on Friday and Saturday, before closing out their home season against Wheaton/Herman-Norcross on Monday night and ending conference play at Ashby on Tuesday.