Finally there

Lisa Henning has achieved many honors the past four years at Blue Springs High School, but the senior middle hitter never achieved her ultimate goal of going to the Class 4 state championships – until this year.
“Being a senior and going to the final four is like a dream come true,” said Henning, an all-state standout who has committed to the University of Missouri and starred on four consecutive Suburban Big Seven championship campaigns.
“The individual stuff is nice, but all I ever really cared about was going to the final four and having the chance to win a state championship. Now, we have that chance.”
Blue Springs is making its fourth overall trip to the final four and its first since 2001, when the Wildcats placed third.
The Wildcats edged Lee’s Summit North – the only conference opponent to defeat the Wildcats over the past four years – 26-24, 25-15 in sectionals and then topped another Big Seven foe, Liberty, 27-25, 25-10 in the quarterfinal to advance to the state championship, which begins at 4 p.m. today at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.
The 33-4-1 Wildcats open round-robin play against 31-3-1 Ozark. St. Joseph’s Academy (27-7) and Incarnate Word (24-9) of St. Louis meet in the other round-robin contest. All four teams will play two games each against each other – with Blue Springs playing St. Joseph’s at 6 p.m. and Incarnate Word at 8 p.m. The two teams with the best records in those six games advance to Saturday’s 4 p.m. state championship. The other two play for third place at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Blue Springs owns a three-game win over Ozark and a two-game win over Incarnate Word in the Blue Springs South Tournament, held during the regular season.
“We’ve talked about that, and the girls all know this is a clean slate,” second-year Wildcats coach Katie Grusing said after taking a tour of Municipal Auditorium with the team late Thursday afternoon. “We’re a different team today and I know those two teams are different today, too.”
The Wildcats came close to a final four appearance in Grusing’s first season at Blue Springs, only to fall 25-17, 25-22 to Lee’s Summit West in state quarterfinal action.
“It’s funny you’d mention that loss to West last year because I’ve been thinking about that match a lot this week,” Grusing said. “Both teams had so much talent, and it was a classic match.
“And we came up a little bit short. Most of the girls who are playing this year were part of that team (that lost to West), and I’m so thrilled that they are getting the chance to play in a Final Four.
“Lisa has won just about everything a volleyball player can win, and she and the rest of the girls really deserve this. They are role models at school – they do great in the classroom and they are fun kids to be around. We’re all looking forward to it.”
Blue Springs is making its fourth overall trip to the final four. The Wildcats have never made the championship match with two third-place finishes and one fourth.