Lady Indians Defeat Weskan and Cheylin
On Tuesday, September 5, the high school volleyball team traveled to Weskan for competition. The Lady Indians played three matches, winning all three in straight sets. The junior varsity team opened the evening with a 25-10, 25-22 win over Weskan. The varsity Lady Indians defeated Weskan 25-12, 25-9 in their first match of the evening and then earned a 26-24, 25-22 win over Cheylin.
The junior varsity Lady Indians took control of game one early jumping out to a 13-3 advantage. The Lady Indians only allowed Weskan to score one 3-point run in the game while scoring runs of 4, 6, 5, and 3 of their own. Leading 3-2 the Lady Indians first run began with a back-row kill by Hannah Zimbal (assist Emma Johnson). Zimbal recorded another kill on an over-pass on the next volley. After a Weskan attack in the net, Johnson earned a kill on an assist by Karly Bandel. The next SF run of 6 points came on an ace by Johnson, a deep tip by Johnson, and four Weskan miscues. The margin had grown to 13-3. Three consecutive errors by the Lady Indians narrowed the advantage a bit, but soon a 5-point run including three Bandel aces moved the score to 22-9. The Lady Indians closed game one with a 3-point surge getting a deep-tip from Bandel and a kill by Johnson to finalize the set. St. Francis won game one 25-10.
Game two was much closer. After being tied at 3-all, a Weskan attack error and two ace serves by Emma Johnson gave the Lady Indians a 6-3 advantage. Weskan came roaring back earning two aces and a kill (off-the-net) to take a 7-8 lead. The Lady Indians responded with a 5-point run including two aces by Hannah Zimbal to lead 12-8 before allowing Weskan to trim the margin to two (12-10). A six point St. Francis run resulted from consecutive aces by Karly Bandel along with four miscues by the Lady Coyotes. A missed serve halted the run at six and started an 8-point Weskan run. With the game tied at 18-all, the Lady Indians took their first time-out. The contest was played nearly evenly the rest of the way with the teams trading points until the match was decided. Zimbal recorded an over-pass kill to move the score to 23-20, and Kattie Wurm tipped a Weskan over-pass to score the final point. St. Francis won game two 25-22.
St. Francis held full control of the varsity match. Lindsey Johnson scored the first point of the night on an aggressive kill. Hanna Bracelin recorded the next kill for the Lady Indians moving the scoreboard to 4-3. With the score at 5-4, the Lady Indians earned a 7-point run getting a kills from Jessica Confer (assist Taighe Weeter) and Lindsey Johnson, an ace from Confer, and a stuff block from Bracelin in route to a 12-4 lead. Weskan trimmed the margin to five before the Lady Indians mounted another run. This run would add 5 points with all but one coming on Weskan attack errors. The final point of the run was scored by Lindsey Johnson on a stuff block making the score 18-8. Another 4-point run aided by three Weskan attack errors and an ace by Lauren Johnson moved the scoreboard to 22-9. The Lady Indians would record two more kills, one by Lindsey Johnson and one by Bracelin to close the contest. St. Francis took set one 25-12.
The Lady Indians did not allow the Lady Coyotes to score more than two consecutive points at any time in the second set. The Lady Indians earned runs of 5, 10, and 5 to run away with set two. Consistent serves from Lauren Johnson (1 ace) coupled with a kill by Lindsey Johnson gave the Lady Indians a 5-0 lead before a missed serve stopped the run. The Lady Indians increased the margin to 15-1 behind some strong serves by Madison Tice (2 aces) and kills by Hanna Bracelin (2) and Jessica Confer (2). This run also ended with a missed serve. Several younger players were soon inserted into the lineup, and the next St. Francis run resulted from two aces by Emma Johnson and two kills by Hannah Zimbal. The margin now stood at 20-3, and Weskan took a time-out. Lauren and Emma Johnson each earned kills before the game closed, but most of the remaining points were scored on errors by both teams. St. Francis won 25-9 with the final point coming on a service error by Weskan.
The Cheylin match was very competitive, with both teams scrambling defensively and also making some good plays at the net. Serving (or the lack thereof) was a major factor in the match. St. Francis earned a 3-0 lead capitalizing on a kill by Jessica Confer and an ace by Lauren Johnson. Grace Sabatka started a three-point Cheylin run with a nice kill eventually tying the game at 3-all. St. Francis took a 4-3 lead on a tip by Confer, but Sabatka answered on the next volley. The Lady Indian lead grew to 8-4 after an ace by Lindsey Johnson and Cheylin passing errors following a tip by Hanna Bracelin and another Johnson serve. St. Francis widened the gap to 6 points (12-6) after consecutive kills by Bracelin. Cheylin called time-out to stop the momentum, but kills by Lauren Johnson and Emileigh Dinkel increased the advantage to 14-7. Cheylin was not going away, and soon trimmed the margin to two (14-12) capitalizing on several Lady Indian miscues as well as an ace by Nora Castillo and a nice tip by Rachel Keltz. After an attack error by Cheylin, the Lady Cougars continued to score, running off six more points to lead 15-18 before the Lady Indians took their first time-out. The 6-point run included two ace serves. A Keltz stuff moved the scoreboard to 17-19 before the Lady Cougars missed a serve. A St. Francis free-ball that hit the net and a stuff block by Jesie Frisbie on a Lady Indian set placed the Lady Cougars at a three-point advantage (18-21). As they had done in earlier matches, the Lady Indians closed the game well. A tip-block by Bracelin was followed by an ace serve by Lindsey Johnson narrowing the deficit to one. Cheylin again increased their lead to three on a let-serve by Alondra Perez (20-23) before missing another serve. A Cheylin passing error on a Confer serve again moved the Lady Indians within one, but Frisbie responded with a strong kill moving the score to 22-24. Again, the Lady Cougars missed their service attempt. The Lady Indians closed the contest with a block by Emileigh Dinkel and two ace serves by Bracelin. St. Francis took game one 26-24.
Game two would be more of the same. St. Francis jumped out to a 4-0 lead before missing a serve. The teams would battle nearly evenly (8-6) with both squads missing several serves along the way. A couple Cheylin errors combined with kills by Lauren Johnson and Emileigh Dinkel, plus an ace by Taighe Weeter, gave the Lady Indians a five-point run leading to a 13-6 margin. Cheylin trimmed the advantage to four before the Lady Indians earned another ace by Lauren Johnson, a stuff by Jessica Confer, and a kill by Lindsey Johnson to lead 16-10. The Lady Indians found it difficult to score on their own, but two more missed serves by Cheylin helped. An error-prone stretch narrowed the advantage to 21-19 and the Lady Indians called time-out to regroup. After returning to the floor, Cheylin opened with another missed serve. A stuff by Lindsey Johnson and a kill by Lauren Johnson followed (24-19). Then, the Lady Indians missed their serve. An powerful kill by Rachel Keltz was followed by another St. Francis error and triggered the final Lady Indian time-out (24-22). The game ended on the sixth Cheylin service error of the set. The Lady Indians had played hard, if not especially well, and held on to earn another victory 25-22.
The Lady Indians will play their first home matches of the season on Thursday, September 7, when they host Rawlins County and Wauneta-Palisade. Matches begin at 4:00 p.m.
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