By james art COLUMBUS – Fremont volleyball was played free of the weight of history Thursday night.
It didn’t matter that the program had never played for a Heartland Athletic Conference tournament title, or that the last time a Tiger team played for any conference crown was way back in 1983 in the now-defunct Big 10 Conference.
It didn’t matter that this group of players had never beaten Lincoln Southwest or that the same Silver Hawks across the net in the Columbus High School gym had swept the Tigers nine days before.
“That loss to Southwest, we learned a lot from that and that failure at that point, it really helped us refocus and really work on our serving,” Fremont sophomore coach Sue Wavell said. “It refocused us on really practicing the little things that make really great things happen.”
Some of the greatness was achieved Thursday night when No. 9 Fremont defeated No. 4 Lincoln Southwest 3-1 (29-27, 17-25, 25-21, 25-19).
“Tonight was really exciting because it wasn’t just one person, it wasn’t just three people, it was the whole team,” senior Matty Dalton said. “We really played together as a team and when that happens it’s really exciting.”
The regular-season loss to the Silverhawks showed on film exactly what the Tigers needed to refocus on, which distilled largely into service.
“It takes a lot of focus from the girls and a lot of understanding the players, finding the weaknesses,” Fremont head coach Halie Williams said. “We practiced a lot where the holes are, where the players are.”
Senior Bryleigh Hofer’s work at the service line gave the Tigers the first set.
After a tied first 23 points, Dalton gave Fremont its first set point of the night with a backcourt kill.
Neither team was able to successfully complete the set despite three more upsets to go up 1-0.
Hofer finally gave Fremont the win in the fifth set, landing one of her four aces on the night to give the Tigers a 29-27 victory.
Southwest took little time to settle for the Tigers’ first set win against them since 2021, doubling the Tigers at 10-5 and 14-6 in the second set en route to tying the match.
“Going into it, it was like, it’s going to be a dog fight,” said Kate Denker of Fremont. “Every ball counts, we’re not going to let the ball fall on the floor.”
Fremont erased any memory of the second-set setback with a hot start in the third set, jumping out to a 7-2 lead that grew all the way to 16-8.
“Our defense really rebounded well and we made some crazy plays,” Dalton said. “We were really bad tonight.”
The Silverhawks slowly chipped away at the lead, cutting the deficit to three, 23-20, before Denker delivered the game-winning kill on an overpass from Southwest.
The final set returned to a back-and-forth affair, with the Silver Hawks leading 14-13 at the half.
Fremont came out ahead after a timeout, opening a 20-16 lead and was able to secure a 25-19 win to claim the tournament title.
“Hats off to Fremont, they played a pretty amazing game,” Southwest head coach Jessica Kirkendall said. “They kept pushing us. We did some really good things tonight as well, just in the end when it happened, they were just the better team tonight.”
The win over Southwest is the Tigers’ second win over a ranked Class A team this fall after knocking off No. 7 Grand Island in the semifinals of the HAC tournament.
“We were in a really good spot coming into the game,” Williams said. “We’re in a lineup where the girls really trust each other and play together and I think that really helps.”
Dalton was a floor finder factory for Fremont, posting 23 kills, extending her own school record of 601 kills in a season. She is the first Class A player to eclipse 600 kills in a season since Gina Mancuso did it in 2008 for Papillion-La Vista.
Denker dished out 37 assists in the win, breaking his own school record for assists in a season and now stands at 809.
Blair Boelhke had four blocks in the win, becoming the Tigers’ career leader with 77 blocks. Teammate and fellow front row wall Katie Proskovec also added a pair of blocks to move into a tie for second all-time on the career blocks list.
“We’re breaking records left and right,” Williams said. “It just makes it feel like a really special season.”
Fremont earned the No. 1 seed in the A-3 tournament and will face the winner of North Platte and Omaha Bryan in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
The Tigers are the only team in the area with a winning record with Lincoln East (15-16) as the No. 2 seed and Lincoln Northeast (13-19) as the No. 3 seed on the other side of the bracket.