Junior High Teams Compete in Dighton
The junior high football and volleyball teams traveled to Dighton on Thursday, September 15, to compete with the Dighton Hornets. The schools each won two contests during the evening's competition. St. Francis won the football game and A-Team volleyball match. Dighton won the B and C volleyball matches.
The football game was over early, as the young Indians scored 46 points in the first quarter. With everyone seeing playing time, the Indians won the contest 52-0 with the game being called at halftime due to the 45-point rule.
The volleyball matches began with the B-team contest. The Lady Indians did not fare well in the first game of the day, losing to Dighton 7-25. The Lady Indians scored the first two points of the match and then gave up a run of five points before getting a sideout on a ball hit by Rian Zimbal. After an ace by Jesslynn Houtman, the score became tied at 5-all. Dighton then reeled off an 8-point run to lead 5-13. The run was stopped by a 1st-ball-over kill by Dawn Rice. McKenna Poling's ace advanced St. Francis' score to 7 before the Lady Hornets ran the table with consecutive points to win game one, 7-25.
Dighton opened game two with a 10-point run. The Lady Indians then began playing much better and trimmed the deficit to 10-16 on consecutive plays featuring a hit by Hailey Robbins and an ace by Amy Jenkins. With the score at 13-20, the Lady Indians reeled off a six-point run to close the gap to 19-20. The run included two aces by Robbins. The game became tied at 23-all, but the Lady Indians failed to score again, and Dighton took a 23-25 win.
The A-Team contest was back-and-forth as each team played aggressively, and both teams showed stretches of very good play. In game one, St. Francis jumped out 3-0 before Dighton took a 3-4 lead and then missed a serve. Talexa Weeter's kill gave the Lady Indians a 6-5 lead. After being tied at 6 and 7, a kill by Emma Johnson gave St. Francis another one-point lead. Two three-point runs by the Lady Hornets moved the score to 10-13. Behind some strong serves by Mia Morrow and good court play the St. Francis team, the Lady Indians earned a 16-13 lead before committing a net violation. Soon, Dighton took a 17-20 lead on a service ace. Kills by Mireya Palasio-Rocha and Weeter, and an ace by Johnson gave the Lady Indians a hard-fought win in game one, 25-23.
Game two was close early, but then the Lady Hornets took control. With the score 7-9, Dighton scored five unanswered points to lead 7-14. After a SF point, Dighton reeled off an eight-point run (including four aces by Hanna Schultz) to lead 7-22. St. Francis lost game two by a decisive margin, 10-25.
Game three was tied four times before the Lady Indians finally took the lead for good at 7-6 on a kill by Emma Johnson. Several strong serves by Talexa Weeter, including three aces, and two more kills by Johnson quickly increased the St. Francis lead. The game ended at 15-8 on a passing error due to a strong serve by Mireya Palasio-Rocha.
In C-Team action, St. Francis and Dighton competed closely, with game one having 10 ties and 7 lead changes. Unfortunately, tied at 20-20, Dighton won 5 of 6 volleys to close the game, including three aces. St. Francis lost game one 21-25.
Launch the media gallery 3 playerEach team had an extended scoring run in game two. Dighton jumped out to a 5-0 lead before a hit by Amy Jenkins stopped the run. St. Francis then scored eleven straight points behind some consistent serving by Miah Hackney. Miah had two service aces and Jenkins two kills in the scoring run. Two short scoring runs by Dighton, and some very close back-and-forth action, eventually tied the game. Leading 21-20 after a kill by Dawn Rice, the Lady Indians allowed Dighton to score on five of the last six volleys to lose 22-25.
The junior high football and volleyball teams will play Rawlins County, in St. Francis, on Thursday, September 22, at 4:30 p.m.
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