It was senior night for the Holton Wildcats and their final Big 7 League matches against Jackson County rival Royal Valley on Tuesday night.  After blowing five set points and falling in the first game of the night, the Lady Wildcats rallied to win the first match 25-27, 25-20 and 25-21 and then celebrated Coach Janelle Noel's 200th career victory and five seniors before sweeping the night-cap 25-17 and 25-21.

Megan Rhule started Holton quick in game one of the night with ace serves to make it 2-0 and the Lady Cats went ahead 6-1 before Kate Hanson dropped back to serve three straight for Royal Valley and get the Panthers back in the action.  Holton built their biggest lead of the game at 14-8 after an ace serve by Courtney Boswell, but after a Royal Valley timeout, the Panthers pulled back within 15-13 and 16-14 before Hayley Thompson provided a kill and ace serve to push the Holton lead back to 18-14.  Hanson brought Royal Valley back to tie the score at 19, and again at 20 and 21 before a huge Rhule block followed by two impressive serves and an ace by Ashlyn Weilert to give Holton a 24-21 advantage.  Yet, Carley Shane kept Royal Valley alive on the next three points and the Panthers took their first lead of the contest at 26-25 before Ali Bryan served the Panthers final point for the comeback win.  

Game two was back and forth early, but Royal Valley never led by more than two points and Erica Pruyser had the Panthers ahead 10-9 with consecutive points before Holton took the lead for good at 12-11.  The Cats led 20-16 before a Panther time-out, but Boswell responded with a pair of ace serves and Thompson added a couple late kills to put the game away 25-20.  In the decisive third set, Holton jumped to a 7-0 advantage behind Rhule's serving.  Thompson added a couple more aces to make it 11-4 and the Cats were up 16-5 before Royal Valley started their comeback.  Pruyser served eight straight as the Panthers got it to 16-13, but Thompson delivered another huge kill to get momentum back and the Wildcats won 25-21 to take the first match.    

Following a three set junior varsity game and Holton senior night recognition, Royal Valley jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second match and lead 5-1 before Holton tied the game at 7 and kept Shari Riley with the serve for seven points in a row to lead 13-7.  Mackenzie Moore made a couple nice blocks and a kill during the stretch and the Cats built a nine point advantage before posting the 25-17 win.

In the final set, Royal Valley again had an early three point lead (8-5) but Holton tied the score at eight and again at 15, before scoring three straight points with Riley serving and allowing Moore and Holly Karn to make a couple big plays down the stretch to secure the 25-21 victory.  

The first win game Coach Noel her 200th career win, surpassing 100 victories in just four years at Holton while previously spending six seasons at Marysville.  Holton finished League play with a 13-3 record and secured second place behind Nemaha Central while improving to 21-10 overall.  After the Wildcats final regular season matches at the Sabetha Invite, they will host 4A D2 sub-state against Jeff West, Hayden and Bishop Ward.  

Royal Valley, who was led in kills by Sarah Beam and Macy Putnam, fell to 10-14 overall and 6-8 in the Big 7 with home matches next week against Hiawatha, sandwiched between tournaments at Marysville and Abilene, before playing in the 3A Sub State at Silver Lake.