What’s Happening: On Wednesday, the volleyball team blew a crafty Kenowa Hills squad out of the water in the district semifinals, advancing to the finals after winning all three sets with scores of 25-10, 25-20 and 25-19. Kenowa Hills aimed to tip and dink balls over the net routinely, which caught the Bucs off balance at first, but their athleticism prevailed in the end. Junior Ashley Slater played a solid game with 17 kills, senior Avolyn Lepo had 11 kills, and senior Baby Hang was an integral part of their passing games.

Keys to the Game:

• First Key: First contact. The Bucs will need to pass well on first contact to set up their attack in a well organized manner.
• Second Key: Final contact. The team will need to capitalize on their passing and maximize their attacking play by utilizing strong hitting as much as possible.
• Third Key: Recognize the opponent. Reeths-Puffer has strong hitters that need to be identified during the rotations.

They Said It: “You have to be able to adjust to the team you’re playing against and still play at your own level,” head coach Aaron Smaka said. “So playing a team that has to do something different to compete, we have to play at the speed and style that we want in those situations instead of playing their style.”

Up Next: The volleyball team heads to Reeths-Puffer tonight at 7 p.m. to take on the hosts in a winner-take-all game for the district championship.