By TOMMY REZAC and MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
GOWER - The Bishop LeBlond volleyball team got off to a quick start in the first set, and rode that momentum throughout in a 3-0 sweep over East Buchanan in a raucous atmosphere at East Buchanan High School Thursday.
LeBlond (25-9-1) won the first 25-17, the second 25-19 and the third 25-16 to advance to the Class 2 quarterfinal round in somewhat dominant fashion.
It's the first quarterfinal for the Eagles since 2016 as they seek their first Final Four appearance since 2015.
"It feels great," said sophomore middle Maddie Sego. "We worked really hard to get to this and I'm just so proud of my team, and yeah. It's just really great."
Junior outside hitter Sadie Ward, who's tallied 221 kills on the season, notes her team's communication was a big factor in helping her and her teammates stay calm in a loud postseason environment away from home.
"I think we had a lot of good communication," she said. "We're usually more quiet to each other, and we just worked really well together and our passes were on point."
LeBlond had swept East Buchanan in Gower back on September 27. After beating a pair of sub .500 teams in districts in Trenton and Brookfield, veteran coach Kimberly Huss knew her team was going to have to be ready for a tougher challenge.
"East Buchanan is a great program with a great coach," Huss said. "They have some phenomenal athletes. They have three girls on there who are all-state track athletes. They're very good kids and good athletes. We knew we were going to have to bring our best game tonight."
As for the environment, Huss was impressed with how underclassmen like Maddie Sego, Lindsey Wright and Kyla Conard, all sophomores and regular contributors, handled the atmosphere after not getting that feel during a COVID season in 2020-21.
"We haven't played in a (postseason environment) with this many fans in two years," Huss said. "All of the fans were limited last year. So, it's really fun in this gym and to be here and see all of these fans and see them cheering for each other, it was a fun environment."
LeBlond moves onto the quarterfinals on Saturday, going on the road to face another KCI school in Lawson. The Cardinals (28-5-2) defeated Adrian 3-1 on Thursday, and swept LeBlond in Grace Gymnasium just 10 days ago.
Saturday's match will start at 3 p.m.
Whatever happens from this point on, Huss, a veteran coach who has engineered a multitude of postseason runs and district titles, is once again happy to see her team reap the rewards of their hard work.
"I really like when you get to this point and you can see them kind of actualize their goals," she said. "It's really fun to see every group get there."
East Buchanan ends their season at 21-10-2.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ, Matt on Twitter @KFEQMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.