North Butler advances past Rockford, to face No. 1 Janesville in semis

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

ROCKFORD — In a match that took less than an hour to play, the North Butler Bearcats swept the Rockford Warriors with straight-set scores of 25-17, 25-13 and 25-18 to advance past the quarterfinal round of the Class 1A-Region 4 volleyball bracket on Monday night.

The Bearcats (22-11) now face No. 1-ranked Janesville (40-5) in Janesville, 7 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals.

Having already beaten the Warriors during the regular season, the Bearcats wasted little time in establishing the upper hand during the first set.

Senior Emy Osterbuhr, who was a Top of Iowa Conference first-team selection last season, slapped in a kill to give North Butler a 10-2 lead. The gap swelled to double-digits before Rockford senior Morgan Thieman’s ace helped draw the Warriors a little closer (23-17) ahead of Osterbuhr recording a blocking kill and the Bearcats being awarded the winning point due to a rotation violation called against Rockford.

The Warriors’ home crowd got more animated in the second set as their team traded points with the Bearcats all the way to a tie at 7. But then Rockford had trouble breaking the serve of North Butler senior Lauren Hawker, who served up three-straight aces to put the Bearcats up 16-10 before a kill by Madison Clipperton helped continue the run all the way to 21-10.

In the third set, a kill by Rockford junior Kayla Carroll gave the Warriors a 9-8 lead. But the Bearcats responded with 4 straight points with Sydney Eiklenborg’s touch kill making the score 12-9.

An ace by Eiklenborg and another kill by Osterbuhr helped put North Butler up 22-14. Consecutive aces by Amber Reams helped cut the gap in half (22-18), but the Bearcats scored the final 3 points of the set and match to move one step closer to state.

Janesville, who is vying for its fourth-straight state title, advanced to the semis with a straight-set victory over AGWSR on Monday.

Rockford finished the season with an overall record of 15-13.