Lady Indians Win Two More
The Lady Indians added two more wins to their resume on Tuesday evening, September 12. The Lady Indians drubbed Greeley County 25-3, 25-9 and earned a three-set win over Wallace County 24-26, 25-18, 25-14. The victories moved the Lady Indians' season record to 10-4. There were no junior varsity matches held between the teams.
St. Francis started well jumping out to an early lead in game one and limiting the Lady Lady Jackrabbits to only three points in the first set. Kills by Jessica Confer, Lauren Johnson, and Emileigh Dinkel gave the Lady Indians a 4-0 lead before 5' 10" senior Hannah Brandl made a scoring tip for the Lady Rabbits. It was the only "earned" point Greeley County (GC) would get in the match. St. Francis followed with two more kills by Confer and an ace from Madison Tice to increase the margin to 8-1 before a hitting error gave GC their second score. GC followed with a service error beginning an 8-point run for the Lady Indians. The run included two tip-kills by Confer, two aces by Karly Bandel, a GC time-out, as well as some GC miscues and moved the score to 16-3. The run ended on a SF service error. St. Francis made several substitutions into the contest to give younger players some court experience. Hannah Zimbal scored the 17th point with a kill and followed with three consecutive aces. Emma Johnson earned a kill on an errant touch by GC. The Lady Indians scored 9 consecutive points to end the set with Zimbal recording two more aces before the action closed. St. Francis won game one 25-3.
The Lady Indians seemed a bit sluggish in set two, possibly due to the lack of offensive power from the Lady Jackrabbits. The Lady Indians easily won set two, but the execution was less crisp. Jessica Confer opened the set with a scoring tip, but a missed serve stopped the momentum. Greeley County took a 2-1 lead on a SF attack error. Emileigh Dinkel's kill tied the set, but another missed serve stalled momentum again. A free-ball kill by Confer retied the contest, and another Confer kill regained the lead for good. A deep-tip by Confer and a dump-set by Lauren Johnson helped complete a 5-point Lady Indian run and moved the score to 7-3. A 3-point run ending with a Taighe Weeter kill advanced the score to 10-4. Following a kill by Hanna Bracelin and an ace by Madison Tice, the Lady Indians added a tip-kill by Dinkel and a Bracelin ace. The Lady Indians earned two six-point runs to close the set. The first run included a two kills by Dinkel and a kill and ace by Bracelin. The closing run contained 3 kills by Dinkel, two kills by Lauren Johnson, and a Taighe Weeter ace. St. Francis won set two 25-9. The Lady Indians had not allowed a three-point run to GC at anytime in the match.
The Wallace County (WC) match was much more competitive. In set one, each team earned three runs of three-or-more points. The Lady Wildcats missed four serves in the set, but the Lady Indians could not take advantage and missed four service attempts of their own. St. Francis took a 3-2 lead on a tip by Jessica Confer. Wallace County regained the lead (3-4) on a kill by sophomore Leah Ayers. The Lady Indians would not hold the lead again until a stuff by Lindsey Johnson made the score 9-8. Madison Tice followed with a service ace giving St. Francis a two-point advantage. The Lady Indians then committed four consecutive errors to fall behind 10-12 and called time-out. After returning to action, the Lady Indians earned a kill by Lindsey Johnson, a ace by Confer, and a stuff and kill by Hanna Bracelin to move to a 15-13 advantage before missing another serve to stop momentum. Soon, a kill by senior Sydni Allen gave the Lady Wildcats the lead for good. A stuff by Bracelin tied the match (16-16) , but another service error by the Lady Indians put WC back in front. A four-point WC run consisting of two kills by Allen and two aces resulted in the second SF time-out (17-21). Following two missed serves by WC, an over-pass kill by Lindsey Johnson, a tip by Confer, and two kills by Bracelin, the score eventually became tied at 24-all. Following a WC time-out, the Lady Indians committed two attack errors to lose set one 24-26.
Both teams missed two serves in the second set, but the Lady Indians earned four runs of three-or-more points while allowing WC only two. The Lady Wildcats jumped out to a 0-3 lead scoring on two SF miscues and a kill by sophomore Aubrey Kuhlman. St. Francis took an early time-out and returned to the court to earn three consecutive points scoring on an aggressive kill by Lindsey Johnson and a dump set by Lauren Johnson. Senior Carli Haislip's kill stopped the SF run. St. Francis earned their first lead of the set after a Lindsey Johnson stuff, a tip by Hanna Bracelin, and a WC attack error (6-5). The Lady Indians then missed a serve retying the set. Neither team seemed able to gain much of an advantage until the next three-point run was scored. A delay on WC was followed by a kill by Emileigh Dinkel, and a communication error by the Lady Wildcats. The flurry moved the scoreboard to 14-9 in favor of the Lady Indians and triggered a WC time-out. The margin reduced to 16-13 on the next SF service error, but WC followed with a missed serve of their own. A three-point WC run narrowed the advantage to 20-18, but WC committed another service error stopping momentum at a critical time in the set. St. Francis closed with four well-executed volleys scoring on a Bracelin dump-set, a tip-kill by Lauren Johnson, a strong kill by Lauren Johnson, and a deep-tip by Bracelin. St. Francis won set two 25-18.
A 5-1 start in set three caused WC to spend their first time-out early. The Lady Indians earned an ace by Lauren Johnson, a double-stuff by Emileigh Dinkel and Lindsey Johnson, a kill by Hanna Bracelin, and stuff by Jessica Confer enroute. After the time-out, WC responded with a kill by Kuhlman and an aggressive kill by sophomore Haylee Hennick trimming the lead. The Lady Indians soon responded with a six-point outburst that triggered the last WC time-out of the set. During the run, the Lady Indians earned points on a tip-kill by Bracelin, a stuff by Lauren Johnson, and kill by Taighe Weeter. After the WC time-out, the Lady Indians extended the run to 9 consecutive points with an ace by Confer and a kill by Bracelin to lead 16-4. The Lady Wildcats continued to battle, but could not recover from the large deficit. St. Francis won the match earning a set three win 25-14.
The Lady Indians will play Weskan and Bethune in Bethune, Colorado, on Tuesday, September 19.
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