The Rock Bridge Bruins had one player with 14 kills. The Helias Lady Crusaders had 10 different players with kills.
Give the advantage to the team effort.
The Lady Crusaders used a varied attack and got significant playing time for everyone on the roster as they breezed to a 25-12, 25-14 win Thursday at Rackers Fieldhouse.
Not only was the Helias offensive attack varied, but each hitter was pretty lethal in terms of hitting percentage.
"Our hitting looked pretty good tonight," Helias coach David Harris said. "For the match, we hit at .424, so that's pretty good. We've been winning, obviously, but sometimes it's taken a lot of swings to get a kill. Tonight we were a little more efficient, so that was good."
Helias was in command of the match throughout. The Lady Crusaders raced out to a 6-1 lead and even though the Bruins came back with three straight points, it wasn't long until the Helias lead reached 13-5.
The Lady Crusaders' biggest lead of the first set came at 24-10, and they eventually settled for the 13-point win.
Rock Bridge's Madison Cleeton had eight of her match-high 14 kills at that point, but she was the only Bruin with a kill in that set.
"We knew going in she was their best hitter," Harris said. "She kept hitting to the same spot and we had talked about it, but we never did adjust. You've got to give her credit - it was working, so she kept doing it. That's what we tell our hitters: If something's working, keep doing it. If it's not working, do something different. She was being successful.
"Still, one person is usually not going to beat you."
She didn't, because Helias was getting contributions from all over. Seven different Lady Crusaders had kills in that first set, led by four from Hannah Eynard and three from Suzie Kuensting.
Helias never trailed in the second set, either, although the lead was just 9-7 before the Lady Crusaders hit their stride. They won seven of the next nine points to take control, the last coming on a kill by libero Blake Berhorst.
Helias' 11-point margin of victory was its largest lead of the second set.
Not only were plenty of hitters getting time for Helias, but so were all the setters. Ashley Dudenhoeffer led the way with 15 assists and Lexy Lamb and Abby Shepard had five apiece, and the offense never slowed no matter who was distributing the ball.
"We see that in practice, so it's nice to be able to transfer that into actual game situations," Harris said.
Eynard, Kuensting and Ellie Rockers had five kills apiece, while Berhorst had 18 digs. Dudenhoeffer had seven service points, including one ace.
Each player on Helias got to see plenty of court time Thursday night.
"We kind of knew going in that Rock Bridge was struggling a little bit this year, so we knew we had the opportunity to do that," Harris said. "I was glad we were able to get some of these people in and give some of the other people a rest. From a coaching standpoint, we're not just coaching for this year, we're coaching for next year and beyond. So we're trying to get some people a little varsity playing time to set things up for the future."
The Lady Crusaders, who improved to 15-1, are now off until Monday when they host Battle.
"It's Homecoming week and they've got a lot of stuff on their minds, but I thought they came out and set the tone early," Harris said. "I was pretty pleased with their focus, especially with everything else that is going on, with what has been going on, and what is going to go on (today) and Saturday and Sunday. So it was a good night."
In Thursday's JV match, Helias cruised to a 25-7, 25-12 victory.
Regan Bruns racked up nine kills, while Riley Bernskoetter was closed behind with eight. Bradi Berhorst picked up 13 digs and had a team-high 14 service points, while Amie Henson and Riley Bernskoetter had eight assists each. Kelsey Brester led the Lady Crusaders (20-1-1) with three aces.
Helias notched a 25-14, 25-16 win in the freshman match.
Jada Oldham had 13 assists and 12 digs for the Lady Crusaders (15-0), while Olivia Farrow had 13 digs and 12 service points. Reagan Bernskoetter and Danielle Kroll had seven kills apiece, while Krystal Brauner had 17 digs.