Jr. High VB Teams Place Second
Photo by Penny Krien
The junior high volleyball teams played in the Rawlins County Round-Robin Tournament on Saturday, September 10, in Atwood. Both the A and B teams played well showing lots of enthusiasm as well as developing skills. Each team won three matches and lost one during the competition. Both teams earned second place in their respective divisions.
B Team
vs Cheylin
The St. Francis B team defeated Cheylin in their first match of the day. Games one and two were very close, with Cheylin winning game one 23-25 and St. Francis winning game two 25-23. St. Francis won the deciding game 15-2. In the final game, Lyden Lampe (2), Miah Hackney (4), and Rian Zimbal (2) all served aces.
vs Quinter
The second match of the tournament found St. Francis playing Quinter. The Lady Indians defeated the Lady Bulldogs in two sets 25-18, 25-17.
Dawn Rice (1), Miah Hackney (2), and Amy Jenkins (3) each served aces in game one. Game one was close throughout, but the Lady Indians gradually made plays that allowed them to slowly open an advantage.
In game two, St. Francis led 4-1 after receiving two aces by Hackney. Quinter soon tied the game at 4-all. An ace by Rian Zimbal, a kill by Hackney, and an ace by Jenkins help place St. Francis ahead 8-5. Quinter tied the game at 8 before a strong hit by McKenna Poling gave St. Francis the lead again. Quinter took a two-point advantage (12-14) but then the Lady Indians reeled off five straight points to regain the lead. Three of the points came on aces by Hackney. Another 5-point run by the Lady Indians increased the lead to 22-16. St. Francis won game two 25-17 after receiving an ace from Jenkins on the final play.
vs Rawlins County
Rawlins County proved to be the better team on this day. The Lady Buffs handed the B team Lady Indians their only loss on the day; 18-25, 12-25.
vs Wallace County
In the final B team match, St. Francis earned a 25-15, 25-19 victory over Wallace County. Dawn Rice, Rian Zimbal, McKenna Poling, Lyden Lampe, Amy Jenkins, and Hailey Robbins all had aces in game one.
A Team
vs Rawlins County
In A Team action, St. Francis opened the day with a match against Rawlins County. After St. Francis led 1-3, the Lady Buffaloes scored twelve straight points to take a 3-15 advantage in game one. The Lady Indians had trouble passing the strong serves from Rawlins County, gave up four aces, and had several passing errors to fall behind by a large margin. In the later portion of the game, neither team earned a run greater than three points, and the Lady Indians gradually gained confidence and played much better. Talexa Weeter, Mireya Palasio-Rocha, and Ellie Krien all served aces in the match. Jordyn Faulkender had a nice kill late in the contest. St. Francis lost game one 16-25.
In game two, the Lady Indians fell behind 1-5, before making several good plays to tie the contest. Emma Johnson and Jesslynn Houtman each recorded kills, and Mia Morrow served an ace to get the score even at 7-7 all. Consecutive aces by Talexa Weeter moved the score to 12-8. Later in the game, Rawlins County earned runs of 5 points and then 4 points to take a 16-20 advantage. The Lady Indians pulled within one point five different times late in the game but could never regain the lead. St. Francis lost to Rawlins County in game two, 24-26
vs Quinter
St. Francis jumped out to an early 6-0 lead against Quinter. Consistent serves from Emma Johnson resulted in two aces and three passing errors during the run. Back-to-back aces by Talexa Weeter advanced the score to 12-4. The Lady Indians increased the margin to 10 points (17-7) but then Quinter clicked off five consecutive points to narrow the deficit to five (17-12) before missing a serve. Two aces and a passing error resulting from serves by Mia Morrow opened the margin to 21-12. Quinter was not going away without a fight and soon trimmed the deficit to two points (23-21) before the Lady Indians recorded a 25-21 win.
Several long scoring runs dominated game two. St. Francis jumped out to a 8-0 lead getting four aces from Emma Johnson and a kill by Mia Morrow. Quinter trimmed the deficit to 9-5, before the second Lady Indian run appeared. St. Francis scored eight consecutive points to lead 17-5. During the run, Jordyn Faulkender earned three aces. Quinter then served four aces of their own during a seven-point run (17-12). Capitalizing on an ace by Talexa Weeter and a kill by Johnson, the Lady Indians moved out to a 20-13 lead. St. Francis won game two 25-16.
vs Cheylin
Two aces by Mia Morrow helped the Lady Indians earn a 5-1 lead in game one. A short 3-point run by Cheylin soon moved the score to 7-5. Mireya Palasio-Rocha's ace gave St. Francis a 10-5 lead. Cheylin earned a 6-point run to take a 12-14 advantage mid-way through game one. The score would be tied six more times and the lead would change hands five more times before the game would conclude. Three consecutive ace serves by Palasio-Rocha gave St. Francis a 24-22 lead before the game ended on a Cheylin passing error. St. Francis won game one 25-22.
In game two, the Lady Indians jumped out to a 6-3 lead. Cheylin eventually took the lead at 11-12, and soon earned a run of 6 consecutive points to place the Lady Indians at a 12-19 deficit. Capitalizing on a kill and ace by Talexa Weeter and an ace by Mireya Palzsio-Rocha, the Lady Indians trimmed the deficit to 20-22 before losing game two 20-25.
St. Francis jumped out to a 7-1 lead in game three earning a nice kill by Talexa Weeter and two aces by Emma Johnson. A four-point Cheylin run trimmed the advantage to 7-5 before another Weeter kill and two aces by Mia Morrow moved the score to 11-5. St. Francis won game three and the match, 15-9.
vs Wallace County
Game one against Wallace County (WC) was close throughout. St. Francis led 4-1 after receiving an ace by Mia Morrow and a kill by Talexa Weeter. WC soon tied the game. Again SF earned a lead (9-4) aided by a Weeter attack and an ace by Jordyn Faulkender. WC tied the contest at 9-all with a five-point run and eventually took the lead at 12-13. The game went back and forth; there were only two lead changes, but the game was tied seven different times. During game one, St. Francis earned aces by Morrow (2), Faulkender (1), Weeter (1), and Mireya Palisio-Rocha (3) as well as kills from Weeter (1) and Emma Johnson (2). Morrow's second ace gave St. Francis a 21-17 lead, but a missed serve on the following volley started a eight-point scoring run by Wallace County to end the game. St. Francis lost game one 21-25.
St. Francis would bounce back. The Lady Indians opened game two taking a 6-1 advantage behind three aces by Emma Johnson. Consecutive aces by Wallace County's Jesse Carmen gave WC the lead at 10-11. The game was tied five times in the next few volleys (the last at 14-14) before the Lady Indians put together an 11-1 run to lead 24-15. Morrow earned three aces during the run. St. Francis won game two 25-17.
Emma Johnson served two aces helping establish a 3-0 lead in the deciding game. The Lady Indians earned a 8-3 lead and eventually won the match 15-10. Three missed serves by Wallace County were momentum changers in the final game.
St. Francis will play volleyball in Dighton on Thursday, September 15, at 4:00 p.m.
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