Huskies advance to district final

The Aurora volleyball team flashed offensive firepower across the front row in a huge win Thursday night.

Despite dropping the opening set, the Huskies found a rhythm and rolled to a four-set win over Blair, 26-28, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-20 to begin the B-2 district.

Aurora advances to its first district final since 2021 and will play at Elkhorn North Saturday at 11 a.m. with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

Blair led 23-18 in the opening set before a huge service run from Hailey Hoff eventually tied things at 24, although Blair would eventually tack on a huge kill and ace serve to win the first, 28-26.

It was Aurora's turn to hang onto a big lead in the second as the Huskies took a 23-16 advantage that was eventually cut to 23-21 before attacks from Kenna Merrihew and Grace Wieseler tied the match at one.

The Huskies left no doubts in sets three and four, pulling away in each with huge offensive spurts to win its 22nd game of the season.

Both Elizabeth Luebbe and Kaitlyn Staehr connected on 16 terminations to account for 65 team kills in the win. The Huskies hit .274 in the match.

Trinity Uhrmacher led the team with 26 digs while Hailey Hoff collected 55 assists, a new season high. 

To qualify for state, the Huskies will have to get past top-seeded Elkhorn North Saturday, a team that sports a 27-6 record. Those six defeats come to Gretna twice, Norris, Waverly, Papillion-La Vista South and Omaha Skutt. 

For live updates from the sidelines follow us on X @SportsANR and see next week's News-Register for full coverage.