Little River’s hopes for a “five-peat” as Kansas Class 1A Division I state volleyball champions are still alive despite a first-match loss to Centralia Friday.
Centralia avenged its last two state championship losses to four-time defending champion Little River with a 25-23, 25-15 win Friday at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina.
Little River bounced back to defeat Goessel 25-18, 19-25, 25-20 and St. John-Hudson 25-19, 25-21.
Centralia posted a 3-0 record in Pool I. The Raiders defeated St. John-Hudson 25-19, 25-11 and Goessel 25-21, 25-12.
Goessel beat St. John-Hudson 25-15, 25-21 to post a 1-2 state tournament record. St. John-Hudson went 0-3 in the state tournament.
In Pool II, Linn went 3-0 to advance to the semifinals. Linn defeated St. John’s-Tipton 25-8, 25-12, Blue Valley 25-16, 25-16 and South Gray 25-15, 25-15.
Both Blue Valley-Randolph and St. John’s-Tipton defeated South Gray (25-23, 25-23 and 25-17, 23-25, 25-21).
Blue Valley-Randolph, making its first state tournament appearance in 29 years, defeated St. John’s-Tipton to post a 2-1 record at state and advance the state semifinals for the first time in school history.
Saturday’s Class 1A Division I state semifinals begin at 1 p.m. Centralia will play Blue Valley-Randolph in one semifinal and Little River will play Linn in the other semifinal.
Consolation and championship matches will begin 25 minutes after the last semifinal match is played.
