Holthus-led Rockets handle Green Wave

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BURLINGTON -- There's a good reason Burlington Central is relying heavily on Stephanie Holthus to do the bulk of the scoring this season. The six-foot junior outside hitter can be downright unstoppable when she's at the top of her game like she was on Thursday night.

Holthus knocked down 20 kills to lead the Rockets to a 25-14, 25-18 non-conference win over visiting St. Edward.

Central's other outside hitter, junior newcomer Taylor Scully, added eight kills.

"Let's be honest, we are probably not to going to have a balanced attack this year," said Central coach Marv Leavitt. "We were definitely dominant outside tonight. We will be trying to get the ball to Stephanie as much as we can. She's a dominant player and we want her hitting."

Holthus not only did plenty of damage at the net, but her six-service run in the opening game -- which included two aces -- opened a 10-4 lead for the Rockets.

Central (2-0) gradually pulled away to win Game 1 rather easily.

Game 2 was a much tighter contest, at least at the start. However with the score tied at 11, Holthus took over by drilling three straight kills to put the Rockets ahead 14-11.

"I was just trying to stay intense out there," Holthus said. "I was seeing some great things from the team early in the season. As long as our passing keeps up the way it is and Molly Turk is setting up our offense, we have a chance to do a lot of good things this year."

St. Edward (1-1) briefly tied Game 2 at 15 on an ace by Holly Knott before Central went on a 6-0 run, including five more service points from Holthus, to pull away for the win.

Central had eight aces in the match. Holthus led the way with three and Kaitlyn O'Reilly had two aces.

"One of our goals this year is to be aggressive with our serves," said Leavitt. "You saw how well it worked at the Olympics. We are not a very tall team and we can't put up much of a block, so we need to keep teams off the net with our serving."

St. Edward hung in despite the absence of one of the area's top hitters, senior Kristen Haggenjos, who is out with a sprained ankle.

"It would have been nice to have (Haggenjos) go up against Holthus," said St. Edward coach Jaime Walton. "But more than anything, we probably missed her leadership."

Senior Katie Yohn had six kills, two blocks and an ace to lead St. Edward.

"We always seem a little nervous when we first go up against Central because they play at such a faster speed than what we're used to going up against," said Walton. "It takes some time to adjust, but I thought we played much better in that second game." High School Volleyball