BEATRICE - The final game of the 2025 MUDECAS Volleyball Tournament lived up to the expectations: after each team won one close set, #1-seed Johnson County Central (11-0) dominated in the third to defeat #2-seed Freeman (11-3) in three sets [26-24, 21-25, 25-7] and capture the 2025 MUDECAS volleyball tournament championship in the A Division. 

The two local rivals were facing off for the second time in less than ten days. Freeman is still the only team to win a set against JCC this year - winning one last week and another one tonight - but the Thunderbirds immediately responded to dropping set two by blasting past the Falcons in the third set to claim the tournament title, an honor Freeman attained in 2024 after sweeping JCC in the semifinal. 

In front of a full house in SCC's Truman Center, there was absolutely nothing to separate the two teams at the start of the first two sets. Neither team scored more than two in a row in set one until Freeman finally scored three straight to go up 12-10, prompting a JCC timeout. That did little to stop the Falcons from surging, however - they scored six of nine after the break to trigger the Thunderbirds to use their second timeout of the period. 

That sparked the top seeds to a 3-0 run for the first time in the match. Freeman quickly tried to stem the tide with a timeout and won the first point out of the break, but gave that point right back to kickstart a 6-2 run, giving JCC a 22-21 lead. Freeman was the first to set point, but the Falcons had difficulties closing out sets all week, even in the matches they won, and Johnson County Central took advantage, staving off two set points before claiming the first set 26-24 on their first game-winning opportunity. 

The second set started out much like the first, with nothing to separate the teams. Freeman was in front for most of the frame but not by much, before a 4-0 run sparked the Thunderbirds to eventually go ahead 16-14. Freeman called a timeout and punched back immediately, scoring five of six to vault in front 19-17.

JCC used a timeout but Freeman scored the next two points, forcing JCC to use another timeout. That helped the Thunderbirds stay afloat in the set, but the Falcons were once again first to set point and this time there was no fussing about: Freeman finished off set two on the first opportunity, sending the match to a third and final frame. 

And that final frame wasn't really indicative of how close the match had been to that point. In fact, the third set was mostly one-way traffic. Freeman coach Lexi Holland tapped into her bench frequently, trying to spark her team with personnel changes at the service line and in the front row, but the Falcons had no answers to the potent offense of Tim Hedger's team, and namely star outside Ashley Beethe, who at one point finished off five straight points with kills.

Johnson County Central scored the first three points of set three and literally never looked back. Freeman took its second timeout trailing 15-6 and scored the next point - but the Falcons gave the side out right back with a service error, a trend that proved very costly in the match, and the T-Birds never relinquished the serve again. JCC scored the final ten points of the match, with Beethe accounting for half of those, including, fittingly, the match-sealing kill - her 23rd of the night - to seal up the championship win. 

A thunderous finish from the Thunderbirds aside, this match was about as well-contested as many imagined it would be. Both teams hustled on defense consistently, captained by liberos Sophia Schmid and Addison Kastanek. Setters Riley Wellensiek and Aniston Bartunek engineered their offenses expertly, running at a high tempo and providing a lot of different looks for their opponents to decipher. Alicia Johansen was the featured hitter for the Falcons as usual, with important contributions from Reagan Rinne and Brecken Albers Dorn. And Beethe, after a bit of a slow week by her standards through the first two rounds, stole the show, especially in the third set, with Harley Lubben and Molly Weber also playing key roles. 

For two teams who expect to still be playing meaningful volleyball well into October, this match served as a perfect prelude.