Lady Indians Defeat RC; Lose to W-P
On Thursday evening, September 8. the St. Francis Lady Indian volleyball teams traveled to Atwood to compete with Wauneta-Palisade (NE) and Rawlins County. The varsity Lady Indians lost their first match to Wauneta-Palisade (W-P) in straight sets 24-26; 12-25. In the final match of the evening, St. Francis defeated Rawlins County in an exciting match 10-25, 29-27, 25-21.
St. Francis played well in the first set against Wauneta-Palisade. The game was back and forth with neither team scoring more than two consecutive points until midway through the game. St. Francis jumped out to a 2-0 lead after an off-the-block kill by Katie Schmid and a W-P hitting error. St. Francis increased their lead to 4-1 on an ace by Taighe Weeter. A strong kill by W-P's junior Faith Simpson closed the spread to 4-3 before a stuff by Lindsey Johnson gave St. Francis a 6-4 advantage. Another Simpson kill tied the match at 6-all. St. Francis earned a 10-7 advantage on an ace serve by Madi Tice. W-P pulled with one point three times before consecutive kills by Lauren Johnson and Zoe Sundstrom moved the score to 15-12. Simpson then recorded three consecutive kills to tie the match at 15-all; the first three-point run by either team in the game thus far. Four consecutive errors by the Lady Indians gave W-P a 17-20 advantage and triggered a St. Francis time-out. After returning to the floor, two ball-handling errors by W-P and a tip-kill by Schmid tied the game at 20. Tice's two service aces put the Lady Indians back in front 22-20. After a W-P time-out, two W-P hitting errors extended the Lady Indian lead to 24-20. Then W-P's Simpson took over. Five consecutive kills and a stuff by Simpson gave Wauneta-Palisade game one 24-26.
Wauneta-Palisade opened game two with a five-point run before missing a serve. The deficit grew to six points (1-7) before a few W-P errors allowed St. Francis to trim the margin to 7-12 on a kill (off a block) by Hanna Bracelin. St. Francis did not execute well in game two; six consecutive passing and hitting errors by the Lady Indians allowed the deficit to grow to 8-19 before a dump-set by Bracelin stopped the run. Emileigh Dinkel's ace and Zoe Sundstrom's attack trimmed the lead to 12-20 before W-P closed game two with five consecutive points.
Rawlins County (RC) easily won game one over the Lady Indian varsity. The Lady Buffaloes took a 1-6 lead capitalizing on several passing errors by the Lady Indians. A RC hitting error stopped the run, but St. Francis missed their serve continuing the lady Buffs momentum. Another run of seven consecutive points extended the RC lead to 3-15. After a RC ace serve, moved the score to 5-19, Lindsey Johnson earned a kill off an attempted block and Hanna Bracelin scored on a deep tip. St. Francis lost game one to the Lady Buffs 10-25.
The Lady Indians played like a different team in games two and three. The two evenly-matched teams traded blows back and forth for some exciting action. Rawlins County jumped out to a quick 0-4 lead (including two aces by Lauren Terry). After trailing 3-6, the Lady Indians put together a series of nice volleys to take a 10-7 lead. A tip by Hanna Bracelin (12-10) and a stuff block by Lindsey Johnson (13-11) helped keep the Lady Indians in the lead for a while. Rawlins County then reeled off eight consecutive points to lead 13-19 before making an attack error to end the run. St. Francis pulled with one (18-19) after receiving a Bracelin ace, two kills by Lauren Johnson, and a strong serve by Zoe Sundstrom. Rawlins County scored the next four points to lead 18-23, but then committed a service error. Behind some consistent serves by Taighe Weeter, St. Francis answered with four points of their own to tie the contest at 23-all. The points came on kills by Lauren Johnson and Jessica Confer, a strong serve by Weeter, and a RC hitting error. The teams then battled back and forth, with the score becoming tied at 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27 before the Lady Indians earned the final two-point victory (27-29) on a stuff block by Katie Schmid, and a deep tip by Bracelin.
In the deciding game, the Lady Indians earned a 6-3 advantage capitalizing on kills by Jessica Confer, Zoe Sundstrom, and Hanna Bracelin, and an ace by Lauren Johnson. The Lady Indians would never trail in the final set, but the action was close throughout with long volleys and spirited play by both teams. St. Francis attained a four-point lead (8-4) on a tip by Schmid. Rawlins Couonty then scored four consecutive points to tie the contest before Schmid earned another kill to stop the run. After being tied at 9 and 10, the Lady Indians forged a three-point advantage on kills by Bracelin and Sundstom, and a stuff by Confer. After a RC time-out, the Lady Buffs scored consecutive points on aggressive kills by freshman Brea Lankas trimming the lead to one (13-12). Points were exchanged through another flurry of long volleys, but two were ended with kills by Lauren and Lindsey Johnson restoring the four-point advantage (17-13). Two strong kills by RC's Amy Crouse and another by Abby Horton soon trimmed the lead to two points (21-19). The Lady Indians executed well down the stretch, with several long volleys ending in St. Francis' favor. Bracelin recorded consecutive kills to close the final two volleys, giving the Lady Indians a well-deserved win 25-21.
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The junior varsity Lady Indians won both of their matches during the evening. St. Francis defeated Rawlins County 25-13, 25-16. The Lady Indians then beat Wauneta-Palisade 25-8, 27-25.
The Lady Indians will compete in the Gove County Classic Volleyball Tournament on Saturday, September 10. (See related article for more information).
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