De Soto ? Anne Stella doesn’t have to dream anymore.

Stella and her Seabury Academy volleyball teammates proved they belong in Kansas High School Activities Association competition Tuesday night at DeSoto High School, skunking Class 5A Bonner Springs 15-0 in their first-ever sanctioned game against a non-Christian school.

“Our big dream this season is to put our school on the map,” Stella said. “I think we really proved that we could play tonight.”

The Seahawks’ premiere victory might have seemed as exciting as their Christian School state title last season, but their play Tuesday  1-2 in the quadrangular  wasn’t that of championship-caliber KSHSAA teams.

Still, Seabury was in position to win all three matches.

“I think they were all a little intimidated coming in,” said Seahawks coach Tracy Kitson, whose team has an overall mark of 2-3 this season. “When I was talking to them and telling them they could go 3-0 tonight, they all were shaking their heads in agreement. But you could tell they weren’t sure.”

That was before their surprising start.

“That Bonner Springs win was like instant confidence,” Stella said of the 15-0, 15-8 victory against the Braves.

But the adrenaline-filled opening act might have slowed the Seahawks in their second contest.

Seabury fought hard against Maranatha Academy, mounting an eight-point rally before losing the first game 15-11. The Seahawks then succumbed with a 15-6 defeat in the second game.

“I think we might have been too high,” senior Janie Schneider said. “We tried to relax and begin a rally.”

Against DeSoto, Seabury seemed to regain its early confidence and smoked the Class 4A Wildcats 15-3 in the initial game. But DeSoto responded to the lopsided loss, snagging the second game 15-7.

“Coming in I really didn’t know what to expect against them,” DeSoto coach Amy Otto said. “Honestly, I was kind of under the impression that it might be a somewhat easy game.

“It definitely wasn’t, I was impressed by how they came to play.”

At the start of the final game, Seabury found itself trailing when DeSoto opened with a 5-0 run before the Seahawks responded with a 3-1 spurt.

As soon as Seabury seemed to catch up, another side-out  there were 30 between the two squads  pushed the pace back to the Wildcats. DeSoto’s Emily Holton, who closed the second game with three consecutive aces, slapped a side-out that gave the Wildcats a 13-6 advantage.

Seabury sophomore Laura Frizell, who accounted for 19 of the Seahawks’ points in their initial match against Bonner Springs, answered with back-to-back non-returned balls to cut the deficit to 13-9.

That would be the end of the mini-comeback, as DeSoto gave up just one more point before winning 15-10.

“We were really nervous coming in here knowing that we had never faced a school four or five times the size of ours,” Stella said. “But we found out that it’s not that big of deal. If we can just play like we’re supposed to we can play with anyone.”

DeSoto Quadrangular

Seabury Academy def. Bonner Springs 15-0, 15-8; Maranatha Academy def. Seabury 15-11, 15-6; DeSoto def. Seabury, 3-15, 15-7, 15-10. DeSoto def. Maranatha 15-7, 15-12. Bonner def. DeSoto, 15-10, 15-10; Bonner def. Maranatha 11-15, 15-12, 16-14.