Despite going 2-1 in pool play, the Nemaha Central volleyball team saw their season come to a close Friday evening at the Class 3A State Tournament losing out on a tiebreaker that kept the Thunder out of the semifinals.

Nemaha Central opened up pool play with a two-set loss to Hesston 25-22, 25-23, but bounced back with a two-set win over Hoisington 25-12, 25-19.

The Thunder then went up against the top overall seed Burlington thinking a win would get them into the semifinals.

Nemaha Central played well in the first set, but weren’t able to finish things off falling 25-21. The Thunder then needed to take the second in order to give themselves a chance, and despite trailing late Nemaha Central rallied off the gritty effort of senior Jacy Dalinghaus who came back after rolling her ankle to finish off the set with a kill giving the Thunder a 26-24 set win.

Nemaha Central had all the momentum going into the third set and never gave Burlington a chance, dominating the Wildcats to win the set and the match 25-17.

The win for the Thunder caused a three way tie at the top of the pool as Nemaha Central, Burlington and Hesston all were 2-1 in pool play.

After the first tiebreaker Burlington got in, but then the second tiebreaker went to Hesston because of the head-to-head win over the Thunder.

Nemaha Central ends the year 37-9 and send off five key seniors; Ashley Hammes, Riley Bontrager, Ashley Larkin, Jacy Dalinghaus and Kristen Hammes.