JH Volleyball Teams Compete in NWKL Tourney
On Tuesday, October 20, the junior high volleyball teams competed in the Northwest Kansas League Volleyball Tournaments. Two tournaments were played; one in Atwood for A team competition, and one in Quinter for B team competition. The Lady Indians only picked up one win during the day, that being an A team victory over Decatur Community.
St. Francis played three matches in pool play in the A team tournament. In their first match, the Lady Indians played the #3 seeded Hoxie Lady Indians. St. Francis played well in the early portion of game one, but then seemed to lose confidence and allowed Hoxie to dominate the later portion of the game. The game opened with a Lindsey Johnson kill off a nice set by Jessica Confer. St. Francis led 4-2, and the game became tied at 4, 5, and 6. Hoxie then went on an eight-point run to move the score to 6-13. A missed serve finally stopped the Hoxie run. Hoxie then won 25 of the next 27 volleys, many coming on spiked attacks or aces to close game one. Hoxie easily defeated the Lady Indians 9-25.
The Lady Indians competed better in game two. Hoxie gained an 2-8 advantage early in the match after three consecutive ace serves. A time-out seemed to refocus the Lady Indians, and the match became much closer after three consecutive Hoxie attack errors (12-14). The Lady Indians pulled within one point (15-16) when a Hoxie attack struck the net. Hoxie then scored the next nine points (2 kills, 4 aces, and 3 Lady Indian passing errors) to take a 15-25 win.
The opponent for the Lady Indians in game two was the #2 seeded Dighton Lady Hornets. St. Francis fell behind early and never led but made an excellent run to nearly win game one. Consecutive Dighton aces earned a 2-9 advantage for the Lady Hornets, but then Dighton missed a serve. Even through the Lady Indians lost the next extended volley, fans could sense a renewed commitment by the Lady Indians. A kill by Jessica Confer moved the scoreboard to 6-11. Three aces serves by Lauren Johnson trimmed the deficit to 11-13 before a missed serve stopped the run. Dighton followed with a kill off the net and an ace (11-16) and then earned a 12-19 lead after several Lady Indian passing errors. A kill by Shalyn Zweygardt and an ace serve by Karly Bandel reduced the deficit to 17-20. After a Dighton hitting error and another kill by Jessica Confer, the Lady Hornets called time-out with the score standing at 19-20. Dighton earned a 19-22 lead, but an ace by Taighe Weeter pulled the Lady Indians within one point again (21-22). The Lady Indians just could not quite make the necessary plays to win the game, and Dighton escaped with a 23-25 win.
In game two, Dighton jumped out to a large lead an won easily. The game became tied at 3-all on an ace by Jessica Confer, but the Lady Hornets scored the next eight points to lead 3-11. After trailing 4-14 and 7-15, the Lady Indians struggled to return Dighton's serves. The Lady Indians did not record a kill in the game and gave up 10 of the final 12 volleys for Dighton scores. The Lady Indians were defeated in game two 10-25.
St. Francis defeated Decatur Community (DC) in two sets for their only pool play victory. In game one, the Lady Indians trailed 0-5, but then reeled off 9 straight points behind some solid serves (4 aces) by Jessica Confer. Lindsey Johnson (2), Taighe Weeter, and Karly Bandel each recorded kills during the St. Francis run. After a missed serve and passing error by the Lady Indians, the Lady Devils tied the game at 10-all. The Lady Indians trailed by a point until a Confer kill off a Lauren Johnson set regained the lead at 13-12. With game game tied at 16, DC committed three errors. Lindsey Johnson followed with a kill to move the score to 20-16. Jessica Confer then served four consecutive aces to put the Lady Indians in control 24-16. St. Francis allowed three points on passing errors before DC missed a serve to end game one. St. Francis won game one 25-19.Jessica Confer had another outstanding game from the service line in game two. After recording 6 aces in game one, Jessica followed with five more aces in game two. An ace by Lauren Johnson gave the Lady Indians a 3-1 lead. DC tied the match, but a tip-kill by Confer moved the score to 4-3. Confer then reeled off six service points, four coming on aces and two more on DC passing errors, to put St. Francis in front 10-3. The next St. Francis run was initiated by some nice serves from Karly Bandel. Karly scored five service points, two on aces, and two on kills by Taylor Kinzer and Taighe Weeter, to widen the advantage to 17-5. St. Francis then found it difficult to pass the Lady Red Devils' serves, and the margin quickly closed to 19-15. A block by Lindsey Johnson was followed by another Confer ace (22-16) to get St. Francis going again. Teagan Landenberger closed game two with a free-ball kill. The Lady Indians defeated Decatur Community 25-18 in game two.
The St. Francis B team did not win a tournament match. The B team lost to Dighton 16-25; 28-26; 8-15. In their second match, the B team lost to Rawlins County 14-25; 18-25. The final match of the day for the Lady Indians was a match against Greeley County. Greeley County won the contest in two sets, 26-28, 17-25.