On Saturday, Nov. 4, Lincoln Southwest’s varsity volleyball team won state at Bob Devaney Sports Center. They beat Papillion-LaVista in the championship game, 3-0. They won in the first three sets 25-14, 25-17 and 25-16.

“When walking onto the court for the final time this season, we wanted it to be our best game since it would be our last,” senior Aaliyah Bradford said. “We just wanted to give it our all and enjoy it, while having a lot of fun.” 

The monarchs serving percent was 89.8%, the hawks had a serving percent of 95.9%, Senior Emerson Lionberger had a 10-point serving streak in the third set.

“While on my serving streak, I honestly didn’t know the score of the game,” Lionberger said. “I kind of was just taking it one point at a time mentality. Every time I got the ball back, I was able to reset, do my serving routine and then keep the ball in play so that my team can continue playing.”

The Hawks finished their season 33-4, losing only to Papillion-LaVista South, Omaha Westside and twice to Lincoln East in their regular season. This is the first time in school history that the girls varsity volleyball team brought back the state title.

“We all looked at each other with confidence that no matter what was going to happen we were going to finish out the final set,” senior Teagan Little said. “I feel like we were just able to leave volleyball in such a peaceful way.”