photo by: Chris Duderstadt

Free State High sophomore Rachel Hickman (left) and senior Natalie Clarke (right) go up for a block in the second set of the Firebirds' 25-9, 25-11 victory over Olathe East Tuesday in their home triangular. The Firebirds also defeated Olathe South (25-16, 25-3), as they extended their winning streak to 13 matches.

Free State High volleyball coach Amy Hoffsommer was curious as to how her team would perform at its home triangular Tuesday after the Firebirds coasted to a first-place finish at the Topeka Seaman Invitational on Saturday.

Hoffsommer liked her team’s resounding answer, as the Firebirds swept Olathe South (25-16, 25-3) and Olathe East (25-9, 25-11) to push their winning streak to 13 matches.

“Honestly, we have a strong offensive team. It’s our defense that has been working so hard that is making the difference,” Hoffsommer said. “The improvement of our defense has just allowed the offense to do its thing.”

Juniors Erin Cushing and Murphy O’Malley tallied 12 digs apiece between the Firebirds’ two victories to hold down the fort defensively. Senior middle hitter Naomi Hickman echoed her coach’s comments about the Firebirds back line being a big reason for their recent success.

“That was going to make or break our season. It really was,” Hickman said. “Our offense was pretty good from the beginning. It’s improved as well, but our defense has just leaps and bounds improved.”

Naomi, a Creighton commit, and her younger sister Rachel, who verbally committed to Kansas last week, did a bulk of the damage at the net for the Firebirds. The Hickman sisters fueled an high-octane Firebird offense in front of KU volleyball coach Ray Bechard and several Free State students in attendance by combining for 23 kills and 20 blocks on the night.

While the Firebirds (19-4, ranked No. 6 in Class 6A) had the overall size advantage at the net in both matches, they did go up against a tall force in Olathe East’s Kailea Carrier — who stands at 6-foot-5. Carrier, another KU commit, was on the bench in the early going of the second set, and O’Malley and senior Payton Gannaway took advantage by serving up Free State a 15-1 lead.

“Serving and just starting off on a run, I think it really gives us momentum,” said Gannaway, who had a team-high nine aces. “Then the next server just wants to get more and the next server wants to get more, so it really just starts up a trend.”

Hoffsommer has been impressed by the one-two punch that Gannaway (Missouri Science & Technology commit) and O’Malley have formed, and said that their two different serving styles have given their opponents a difficult time lately.

“It was just nice to see Murphy mix up her serves so much. She gave them so many different looks that they couldn’t really adjust to it,” Hoffsommer said. “And Payton is just a hard server. She just puts a lot of power behind that ball. They were just doing their thing and doing it well.”