Lady Indians Earn Wins In All Matches
The St. Francis Lady Indian volleyball teams earned a clean sweep over Weskan and Cheylin on Tuesday, September 4, in Bird City. The varsity opened the evening with a 25-20, 25-17 win over Weskan and followed it with an exciting 25-18, 26-24 victory over Cheylin. The junior varsity team won the only match they played; working for a 23-25, 25-18, 15-13 win over Cheylin.
In the varsity match against Weskan, St. Francis missed their first serve of the match, but then reeled off 5 consecutive points to lead 5-1. In the run, Lauren Johnson served two aces, and Jessica Confer and Lindsey Johnson each earned kills. The run ended on an over-pass kill by Weskan's 6' 3" Josie Purvis. An ace by Lindsey Johnson advanced the score to 8-4, and a deep-tip score by Lauren Johnson moved the scoreboard to 9-6. The Lady Indians earned a three-point run including kills by Hannah Zimbal and Lauren Johnson to lead by five (12-7). The advantage increased to six on a kill landing in the middle of the Weskan defense by Lindsey Johnson. The Lady Coyotes trimmed the margin to four (15-11) on another stuff-block by Purvis, but St. Francis answered with a four-point run including strong hits by Emma Johnson and Lauren Johnson. Trailing 19-11, the Lady Coyotes called time-out. Though the teams battled evenly for a bit, Weskan eventually earned a four-point run trimming the advantage to 21-18. All four points came on Lady Indian errors. Weksan's Jenna See earned a strong kill moving the score to 22-19. The Lady Indians closed the set with a Confer kill and two aces by Mia Morrow. St. Francis won set one 25-20.
In set two, St. Francis jumped out to 13-2 lead reeling off an eleven-point run including kills by Lauren Johnson, Lindsey Johnson, Emma Johnson, and Jessica Confer as well as a stuff by Emma and an ace by Lauren. Weskan answered with two three-point runs. The first followed a kill by See and two aces by Purvis. The second included two aces by Brylee Aldridge. The flurry narrowed the Lady Indian advantage to 14-9. Two strong attacks by Jessica Confer moved the score to 20-12 before Weskan earned another three-point run (20-15). St. Francis won six of the next seven volleys and closed out the 25-17 win. Confer, Emma Johnson, and Lindsey Johnson each earned kills in the final volleys.
In the Lady Indians' second match of the evening, they competed with a very scrappy team from Cheylin. St. Francis earned five runs of three or more points in set one while only allowing Cheylin to earn two. Cheylin jumped out to a 0-3 lead with Jesie Frisbie setting the tone with a stuff-block on the opening volley. Lauren Johnson earned an ace in the four-point St. Francis run moving the score to 4-3. The teams battled hard but the next run (4 points) belonged to St. Francis. Along the way Lindsey Johnson and Lauren Johnson (two) each scored kills. Emma Johnson added an ace and Hannah Zimbal a stuff-block, and the score moved to 10-7. Weskan then added a 4-point run to take a 10-11 lead. Kaylynn Hendricks earned a kill and an ace and Frisbe added a kill. The next two Frisbe kills gave Cheylin a 13-14 lead, but Jessica Confer followed with two kills for St. Francis (15-14). St. Francis would earn three more runs of 4, 3, and 3 to move to a 25-18 win. Along the way, kills were recorded by Lindsey Johnson, Confer, Lauren Johnson (3), and Mia Morrow. Zimbal and Emma Johnson combined for a stuff-block and Confer served up an ace in the final run.
Though set one was highly contested, set two was even more competitive. Each team earned three runs of three or more points and the outcome was in doubt until the last play. Jessica Confer opened the set with a tip-kill. Cheylin followed with three straight kills by Jesie Frisbie. St. Francis then earned a kill by Lindsey Johnson, an ace by Jessica Confer, and a kill by Emma Johnson before Frisbie struck again (4-4). A four-point Lady Indian run gave St. Francis a bit of breathing room (8-4). Kills by Confer (two) and Lindsey Johnson were split by another Frisbie attack moving the margin to six points (14-8). The next St. Francis run of four points included kills by Emma Johnson and Hannah Zimbal, and an ace from Confer. The margin had increased to 18-9, but Frisbie had seen enough. A powerful spike by the Cheylin senior ended the run. Frisbe then served up several strong balls totaling two aces and causing several passing errors by the Lady Indians. With the addition of a kill by Grace Sabatka, the Cheylin run tallied seven points and narrowed the Lady Indian lead to 18-16. A series of good plays by the Lady Indians resulted in a 22-18 score after a stuff by Zimbal, a kill by Zimbal, and tip-kill by Mia Morrow. The next run belonged to Cheylin. Three Lady Indian errors and a Frisbie kill narrowed the difference to 23-22. St. Francis used their final time-out to slow the momentum and followed with powerful spike by Confer. Frisbie answered with a over-set kill for the Cougars. The final three points were scored by St. Francis all coming on Cheylin errors. St. Francis won the set 26-24.
The junior varsity match between Cheylin and St. Francis took three sets to determine a winner. In set one, both teams had trouble sustaining a run. St. Francis never did score three consecutive points and Cheylin managed only two three-point runs. Play was a bit ragged as the teams failed to pass and set the ball accurately enough to sustain an attack. After trailing early, St. Francis tied the set at 3-all on a back-row kill by Kattie Wurm. McKenna Poling's stuff-block moved the score to 6-4. Kills by Poling and Jordyn Faulkender (two) kept the set tied, but Cheylin took the lead (9-10) on an ace by Nellie Hespe. Alondra Gomez's dump set score was followed by an ace by Perla Yanez again tying the score (11-11). Cheylin took a 20-21 lead on a kill by Nora Castillo, and the remainder of the points all came on errors. St. Francis lost set one to Cheylin 23-25.
In set two, a four-point St. Francis run gave the Lady Indians a 4-1 lead. The run included a kill by Audrey Meyer and an ace by Alondra Gomez. The next St. Francis run included an over-pass kill by McKenna Poling and an ace by Kattie Wurm and extended the Lady Indians' lead to 10-6. St. Francis gained a 5-point lead on an error by the Lady Cougars (11-6), but Cheylin then reeled off four straight points to pull within one. Capitalizing on some good serves by Poling, including one ace, the Lady Indians regained some momentum to lead 14-10. Cheylin would trim the advantage to 16-15 before the Lady Indians made another move to lead 21-17. St. Francis scored the final four points of the set, including a stuff-block by Poling, to win 25-18.
In the deciding set, each team earned one run of six points each. After earning an 8-6 lead on a kill by Alondra Gomez, the Lady Indians allowed Cheylin six consecutive points to trail 8-12. The Lady Cougars' momentum was halted by a back-row kill by McKenna Poling. After an attack error, St. Francis scored the final six points of the contest to win 15-13. Gomez served three aces during the run.
The Lady Indian varsity will play in the Gove County Classic Volleyball Tournament on Saturday, September 8, at Wheatland High School.
Click the photos to see more photos!
