Lady Indians Earn Opening Night Split
The Lady Indians split their matches in Goodland on Tuesday, August 28, with Hoxie and Goodland. The varsity Lady Indians lost a close match to Hoxie and then defeated Goodland. Hoxie had earlier defeated Decatur Community and lost to Wheatland-Grinnell (3 sets) last week. It was the first night of competition for both St. Francis and Goodland. As the Lady Indians evening progressed, they seemed to relax and play better as the nervousness of the "first game" disappeared. The Lady Indians' play improved throughout the evening.
St. Francis opened with Hoxie and lost in two competitive sets; 17-15, 22-25. Hoxie opened set one with a 5-0 run before the Lady Indians got on the scoreboard. After a St. Francis time-out, the Lady Indians earned their first point on a Hoxie attack error. St. Francis closed the gap to 4-6 on back-to-back kills by Jessica Confer and Lindsey Johnson. Hoxie widened the margin to three (5-8) on a kill by Macy Schamberger (5' 7' Jr) and eventually increased lead to four (6-10) on a St. Francis attack error. The Lady Indians' only run of the set followed. A block by Lauren Johnson, a tip-kill and stuff by Confer, and a Hoxie hitting error tied the set at 10-10 all. The Lady Indians could never gain the lead, and Hoxie added four more runs of three-or-more points to gradually extend the lead. After another Confer kill, the score stood at 11-all. Three errors by the Lady Indians resulted in the first of four Hoxie runs. The second Hoxie run featured two ace serves by Addison Campbell (5' 4" Jr.) and a kill by Baylee McKenna (5' 6" So.). The margin had widened to 12-18. A stuff by Lindsey Johnson closed the gap to 14-18, but it was as close as the Lady Indians would get in set one. Hoxie earned two more kills before the set concluded, but most of the closing points followed Lady Indian errors.
In set two, the Lady Indians trailed 3-6 before earning a 6-point run to take their first lead of the match. The run included four Hoxie errors and two kills by Lauren Johnson. Trailing 9-6, Hoxie called time-out to re-group. Three serves later, a kill by Paiton Rogers (5' 7" So.) tied the set at 9-all. Hoxie then missed a serve. St. Francis followed with a missed service attempt of their own retying the set. Trinity Balluch (5' 7" Sr.) gave Hoxie the lead for good with a kill (11-12) and followed with a deep dump-set to add another score. Emma Johnson's dump-set moved the Lady Indians to 12-13, but then Hoxie scored runs of three and five to lead 13-21. The Lady Indians fought hard and earned runs of three points twice before the match would end. A ball placed deep in the court by Lauren Johnson moved the score to 21-23, but the set ended on a strong kill by Schamberger. St. Francis lost set two, 22-25.
The Lady Indians defeated Goodland in straight sets; 27-25, 25-15. The first set was close throughout. After trailing 0-2, St. Francis reeled off four straight points to take a 4-2 lead. In the run, Emma Johnson earned an over-pass kill and Jessica Confer had a kill. The Cowgirls tied the set at 5-all on a strong serve that the Lady Indians failed to pass effectively. Lindsey Johnson's tip moved the score to 7-6, but the Cowgirls tied the set again. The next St. Francis run--five points in length--began with a kill by Mia Morrow off an attempted block. Several strong serves by Karly Bandel helped start the volleys that ended in Cowgirl errors. The advantage grew to 12-7. Back-to-back kills by Emma Johnson and Confer moved the scoreboard to 14-8, but the Cowgirls kept competing. A four-point run by Goodland quickly trimmed the advantage to 14-12 before Confer earned an off-the-net kill to stop the Cowgirls' momentum. A kill by Lauren Cure (5' 10 Jr.) and an ace serve that hit the net pulled the Cowgirls within one (17-16). St. Francis would earn the next four points. The run began on a free-ball kill and included a nice kill by Lauren Johnson and two Cowgirl errors. Though the Cowgirls used a time-out to prevent it, the momentum shifted to the Lady Indians. Two consecutive attack errors by the Lady Indians were followed by a kill by Taighe Weeter (now playing for the Cowgirls). The flurry moved the score to 23-20 and triggered a St. Francis time-out. A deep-dump by Emma Johnson advanced the scoreboard to 24-21, but Sydney Hahn (5' 5" So.) earned an off-the-net kill for the Cowgirls. The play was followed by a Lady Indians passing error on a strong attack by Makayla Wolak (5' 7" So.). Another SF passing error allowed the game to become tied at 24-all. St. Francis used their last time-out to re-group. After an exchange of attack errors, Lauren Johnson and Jessica Confer sealed the win with back-to-back kills. St. Francis won game one, 27-25.
Set two was much the same.....at least for a while. A kill by Jessica Confer tied the set at 2-all. A deep-tip by Lauren Johnson was followed by a kill by Hannah Zimbal tying the set at 5. After a strong kill by Cure, Emma Johnson earned a kill on a dump-set. St. Francis earned a six-point run (interrupted by a Goodland time-out) to take a 13-7 advantage. St. Francis earned a couple of points during the run on passing errors on strong serves by Karly Bandel and an attack by Mia Morrow. Lindsey Johnson finalized the 6th point of the run with a stuff block. Emma Johnson earned two kills enroute to a 18-10 St. Francis lead. Hannah Zimbal added two quick points on tips to move the score to 22-13. Taighe Weeter sandwiched a kill in between Hannah's points. Weeter's final kill moved the scoreboard to 23-14 before consecutive kills by Confer sealed the 25-15 win.
The junior varsity Lady Indians extended both of their matches to three sets, but lost both contests. St. Francis lost to Hoxie 17-15, 25-17, 12-15. After scoring an equal number of points in the first two sets, the two teams traded the lead back-and-forth in the final set. St. Francis earned a 7-5 lead on a tip-kill by A.J. Nider, but the set became tied three times by 11-all. Hoxie took an 11-13 led on 3 consecutive errors by the Lady Indians before making an attack error to make the score 12-13. Hoxie earned the final point on an ace serve.
The Lady Indians lost to Goodland 25-22, 22-25, 13-15. Again, the teams were closely matched. In set three, a free-ball kill by Jordyn Faulkender moved St. Francis within one (5-6). A first-ball-over kill by McKenna Poling moved the score to 6-7. After trailing by three, the Lady Indians earned three straight points to tie the match at 9-all. The Lady Indians earned the lead on a setting error by the Cowgirls (10-9) and extended the lead to 12-9 on an ace serve by Faulkender. Goodland called time-out to re-group, but the next volley ended with a hitting error by the Cowgirls (13-9). The Cowgirls then earned six straight points--two on kills and two on aces--to earn a 13-15 win.
The Lady Indians will play Idalia, in St. Francis, on Thursday, August 30.
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