By Brian McKim
The Falls City Sacred Heart Irish placed third on Saturday, September 3, at the Weeping Water Invite. The Irish went 2-1 in pool play before defeating HTRS in the third-place match to improve to 6-1 for the season.
The Irish opened the tourney with a two-set win over Omaha Brownell Talbot before falling to Yutan. The Irish bounced back with a three-set win over East Butler before defeating HTRS in three sets for third place.
In the tourney opener, SH wasted no time defeating Brownell Talbot 25-13 and 25-11. The loss dropped the Raiders to 2-4 for the season.
Sacred Heart felt the pain of defeat for the first time in almost a year in their second match of the tourney. The Irish fell to Class C1 No. 10 Yutan in straight sets, 19-25 and 21-25. The Chieftains were a perfect 4-0 at Weeping Water to claim the tournament title and improve to 11-2 for the season. For SH, it was the first time they walked off the court on the wrong end since a loss to Diller-Odell on September 25, 2021.
In the third match, Sacred Heart outlasted the East Butler Tigers 26-24, 22-25 and 25-12.
In the day’s final match, Sacred Heart survived a tough contest against the HTRS Titans, 15-25, 25-13 and 25-22, to win third place.
The win improved the Irish to 6-1 for the season, while the loss dropped the Titans to .500 at 3-3. For the year, Sacred Heart has won 15 of 21 sets played.
The Irish hosted the 5-1 and third-ranked Diller-Odell Griffins at the Roh Activity Center on Tuesday evening. The Irish will then play at Sidney, Iowa, on Thursday, September 8, beginning at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Irish will compete in the HTRS Tourney before heading to Beatrice the following week for the MUDECAS Tournament, starting on Monday, September 12.
