Lady Indians Win 1, Lose 2, at NWKL Tourney
The Northwest Kansas League Volleyball Tournament was held in Quinter on Saturday, October 18. The tournament was played in two pools of four teams each with the top two teams from each pool advancing to bracket play to determine the league championship. Hoxie defeated Wallace County in two sets to win the NWKL championship. The St. Francis Lady Indians lost their first two matches (against Dighton and Wallace County), but defeated Quinter in their final pool play match.
The Lady Indians played Dighton in their first pool play match. Game one began with two Dighton kills, but kills by Journey Lee and Katie Schmid soon tied the game. A Dighton attack error moved the score to 5-6 before the Lady Indians scored four consecutive points behind three kills by Katie Schmid and a Dighton setting error. All four points came after good serves by Sydney Sundstrom. The Lady Indians led 9-6, and the run triggered a time-out by the Lady Hornets. A kill by Emily Elfers moved the score to 12-9. Dighton then answered with seven consecutive points. After a St. Francis time-out, the Lady Hornets committed an attack error, but then scored six more consecutive points to earn a 13-21 lead. The two large runs sealed the Lady Indians fate in game one. St. Francis lost the first game of the match 16-25.
Game two was close throughout with the largest point margin being 5 points. A Dighton kill tied the match at 5-all. Three consecutive errors by the Lady Hornets were followed by a stuff by Ashlee Orth, and the Lady Indians led 9-5. After a Dighton time-out, the Lady Hornets reeled off four consecutive points, three coming on kills, to tie the game at 9. The game would become tied seven more times before it was completed. Tied at 12-all, a kill by Emily Elfers, two ace serves by Kyla Bandel, and two attack errors by the Lady Hornets gave the Lady Indians the largest lead of the game, 17-12. Four Dighton kills and a few miscues by St. Francis soon brought the score to 19-19. A Dighton attack error gave the Lady Indians a one-point lead. The Lady Hornets tied the game (20-20) with a tip-kill on the next volley. A spike that landed out-of-bounds put Dighton in front 20-21. Dighton mis-played a St. Francis tip, and the game became tied again (21-21). St. Francis never trailed again, but earning the win would prove difficult. A kill by Journey Lee was followed by an Ashlee Orth tip of a Dighton over-pass to put St. Francis up 23-21. The Lady Indians' next attack landed in the net. Dighton followed with an ace serve (23-23). The next point was won by the Lady Indians on a joust at the net on an over-passed ball. The score became tied at 24-all when the Lady Indians passed the ball into the net. Dighton followed with a passing error of their own, and Kyla Bandel served up an ace to seal a 26-24 win in game two.
Game three was very close most of the way also. After being tied at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, Dighton earned a three-point lead on a spike by Jordan Speer (8-11). A Lady Hornet passing error and a stuff by Emily Elfers pulled the Lady Indians within one (10-11). A five point run by the Lady Hornets widened the point spread to 11-17. Another Dighton run of 3 consecutive points placed the Lady Indians in real trouble (16-24). The game ended on a kill by Speer. The Lady Indians lost to Dighton 17-25.
The Lady Indians were easily defeated in game one by a highly-ranked Wallace County (WC) team. St. Francis trailed 1-6 before the Lady Indians earned their first kill, a good swing by Journey Lee. A kill by Emily Elfers moved the score to 3-9. St. Francis earned two more kills in the match, one by Katie Schmid and one by Sydney Sundstrom, but the point spread quickly increased. A run of four kills and a stuff block by Wallace County moved the scoreboard to 8-22. St. Francis lost game one to Wallace County 13-25.
Game two opened with Wallace County ending five of the first six volleys with aggressive kills. One hitting error in the exchange made the score 1-5. St. Francis then received consecutive kills from Katie Schmid. A couple miscues by the Lady Wildcats were followed by a kill by Ashlee Orth, and the game became tied at 6-all. When a spike by Journey Lee bounced off a Wallace County attempted block, the Lady Indians took their first lead of the match (8-7). The Lady Indians lead increased to 10-8 after two more WC errors, but the Lady Indians missed their next service attempt. WC's Rachael Kuhlman followed with seven kills and a stuff in the next few volleys, and soon the Lady Indians trailed 12-19. Katie Schim\\mid earned a kill off a WC block attempt to stop the run. Kylie Sherlock followed with a kill of a WC over-pass (14-19). Two more kills by Kuhlman, and one by Daily advanced the score to 14-22. The Lady Indians committed three consecutive errors to end game two. St. Francis lost to Wallace County 14-25.
St. Francis defeated the Quinter Lady Bulldogs in their third match of pool play. The teams exchanged two three-point runs each early in game one. The final three-point run by the Lady Indians came on three consecutive kills by Katie Schmid. The close game was tied at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 16 before the Lady Indians began to gain an advantage. A Quinter hitting error was followed by consecutive aces by McKayla Taylor and kill by Katie Schmid to forge a 20-16 lead for St. Francis. After an exchange of missed servers, Quinter committed three consecutive errors to close game one 25-19.
The Lady Indians jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game two aided by a Journey Lee kill and an ace from Kyla Bandel. A Lady Bulldog kill stopped the run. After three consecutive errors by the Lady Indians, the score was again tied (4-4). Two strong hits by Emily Elfers helped the Lady Indians gain a 7-4 advantage. After Quinter closed the gap to 7-6, the Lady Indians scored nine consecutive points, most coming on Lady Bulldog errors. Katie Schmid and Ashlee Orth earned kills during the run, and McKayla Taylor had an ace serve. The St. Francis advantage grew to 16-6. Kills from Kylie Sherlock, Schmid, and Elfers, and a stuff block from Elfers helped the Lady Indians advance to a 25-16 win in game two.
The Lady Indians will compete in the KSHSAA Sub-State Volleyball Tournament in Stockton on Saturday, October 25. See related article.
