Six points into the second set Wednesday night, cheers rang out from the top of the Rackers Fieldhouse stands. The Lady Crusaders' junior varsity team held up balloons as Landrey VanOverschelde reached her 1,000th career assist.
With the score tied at 3, VanOverschelde assisted Chapel Dobbs for a kill to put the Lady Crusaders ahead.
"That's a good milestone," Helias coach David Harris said. "She's been a very steady, consistent performer for us. She's been a starter since she was a freshman and we've come to expect that from her at this point in her career."
The 1,000th came in the middle of a Lady Crusaders sweep of the Battle Spartans 25-16, 25-10, 25-10 during Central Missouri Activities Conference volleyball action Wednesday night.
The win marked the third in three days and fourth in a row for the Lady Crusaders, all by a final score of 3-0. Helias has not dropped a set since Sept. 4.
"We're trying to build on the last game," Harris said of his team's recent success. "Each game we're trying to improve on something a bit. Tonight it was serving tough."
Helias and Battle went back and forth in the first set, with neither team taking more than two consecutive points early, building the score to 14-13. VanOverschelde then used one of her game-high 16 assists to help Dobbs for one of her game-high 12 kills to rotate Grace Verslues to the service line with a 15-13 lead.
Verslues led the Lady Crusaders on the longest run to that point, serving Helias to a 20-13 advantage after Dobbs got another kill on one of Verslues' eight set assists.
Jessie Alverso-Freese used one of her team-high 14 assists when she dished to Henley Tawater for a kill to end the run, but the Lady Crusaders never looked back.
A Summer Hake kill off a Verslues assist put Dobbs behind the service line, where an ace helped build the Lady Crusader lead to 24-15.
Alverso-Freese assisted Jordyn Butler for one of her team-high seven kills to keep the Spartans alive at 24-16, but Sydney Mingucci ended the initial set with a block for the Lady Crusaders.
"I thought Battle came out in that first set and they were ready to play," Harris said. "They were passing well and really made us work tonight."
The Lady Crusaders were able to jump ahead earlier in the second set.
After trading short runs to build a tie at 5, Verslues connected on a service ace and led an seven-point run from behind the line to build Helias' lead to 12-5.
The Spartans got within five at 12-7 after a Lady Crusader spike went into the net, but would never bring the score closer.
The Lady Crusaders built their lead out to 21-10 after a run of three consecutive points with a VanOverschelde assist to Dobbs, then three Spartan errors and a Dobbs kill off a Verslues assist ended the set.
"They (Lady Crusaders) realized they were going to have to work for it, they couldn't just wait for mistakes," Harris said. "They kept the pressure on with good serves and good defense. Our defense was really good tonight and kept a lot of balls alive."
Helias used solid serving and a couple of VanOverschelde-assisted Dobbs kills to build a 5-2 advantage in the third set, then took advantage of Battle errors to build to a 15-5 advantage.
The Lady Crusaders' defense continued to keep the ball alive and wait for the Spartans to make a mistake, building to a 19-9 lead after Verslues assisted Faith Ann Meyer for a kill.
Four more Battle errors, a VanOverschelde kill and a Jacie Buschjost kill off a VanOverschelde assist ended the sweep.
"I thought we played with a lot of energy," Harris said. " We've been starting kind of slow, but tonight I thought we played well from the start."
Mingucci led the Lady Crusaders' front line defense with three blocks, while Buschjost had six kills to help the Helias offense and 10 digs to control the defense. Beth Luebbert contributed eight digs to the Lady Crusaders' defense.
After playing three consecutive days, Helias (9-2-1) is off until Saturday when it travels to Camdenton for the Camdenton Tournament.
Helias swept Battle 25-13, 25-10 during junior varsity action.
Addy Bryant dished out 10 assists for the Lady Crusaders, while Avery Saucier totaled nine. Claire Manns led the Helias offense with eight kills, Libby Gaines smacked five and Hannah Hentges notched four.
Izzy Herrbold led the defensive effort with 11 digs, while adding four service aces.
With the win, Helias' record moves to 7-3-1.
Helias also swept freshman action Wednesday, 25-10, 25-7.
Eme Mason dished out six assists, while Alyssa Muenks had five kills and Ellie Lock had four. Reese Herigon led the Lady Crusaders' defense with eight digs, while Lexie Bruns had four. Abby Mays served five aces, and Lock added four of her own.
With the win, Helias' record is 8-3.