Girls Defeated By Nebraska Teams
On Thursday, September 20, the Lady Indian volleyball team played well but lost both varsity volleyball matches to teams from Nebraska. St. Francis was defeated by Chase County 17-25, 21-25 and Dundy County-Stratton 21-25, 15-25. Both Nebraska teams have four or less losses on the season, and sported teams with good size, power, skill, and quickness.
In junior varsity action, Chase County (CC) defeated St. Francis 11-25, 25-23, 4-15. St. Francis won a three-set match over the Dundy County-Stratton (DCS) Lady Tigers 21-25, 26-24, 19-15.
The Chase County Lady Longhorns jumped out to a quick 0-5 lead earning kills by Adelaide Maxwell (Sr.) and Ashley Bubak (Jr.) as well as capitalizing on several passing errors by the Lady Indians. The run ended with a missed serve, but Maxwell smashed another strong kill on the next volley to lead 1-6. St. Francis then earned four consecutive points getting outstanding saves by Lindsey and Lauren Johnson before ending the volley with a kill by Jessica Confer. A stuff by Confer on the next volley was followed by scores on a dump-set by Lauren Johnson and a CC passing error on a strong hit by Lindsey Johnson. The Lady Indians had rallied back within one point (5-6). A series of errors by the Lady Indians mixed with two aces by Maxwell quickly moved the score to 5-12 and triggered a St. Francis time-out. Back-to-back tip-kills by Emma Johnson narrowed the margin for a moment, but CC answered with a tip-kill by Madison Schuller and a stuff by Alexis Richmond. Lindsey Johnson's kill moved the score to 8-14, but a couple attack errors by the Lady Indians allowed the deficit to move to 9-17. St. Francis then earned a three-point run getting kills from Lauren and Emma Johnson and a stuff by Lauren on a Maxwell attack. The action moved St. Francis within five (12-17), but unfortunately, the Lady Indians missed their next serve. Another SF three-point run included two CC errors and a tip by Lindsey Johnson and narrowed the gap to 16-19. Mallie McNair (Jr.) answered with three kills. Coupled with a St. Francis attack error, the Lady Longhorns opened the margin to 17-23. After a kill by Emma Johnson, CC closed the set on two Lady Indian errors. St. Francis lost set one 17-25.
Lauren Johnson opened set two with an off-the-net kill. After an over-pass kill by CC's Sophie Spady (Jr.), St. Francis earned a 4-point run to take a 5-1 lead. The run featured two kills by Jessica Confer and an off-the-block kill by Lindsey Johnson. St. Francis earned a 5-point lead (7-2) on another Johnson kill. Chase County then reeled off seven straight points earning two kills and getting 5 points off errors by the Lady Indians. Three CC attack errors moved the score to 10-9. Richmond's over-set kill tied the set at 10-all. St. Francis took a 12-10 lead on a dump-set by Emma Johnson which triggered a CC time-out. After the time-out, the Lady Longhorns scored five straight points to lead 12-15. St. Francis followed with a three-point run including a deep-tip kill by Hannah Zimbal to tie the set at 15-all. The teams traded points almost evenly the rest of the way, with both teams finding it difficult to earn a kill. Karly Bandel recorded an ace and Confer a kill in the closing action. The Lady Longhorns earned four kills enroute to a 21-25. win.
The Dundy County-Stratton match opened with back-to-back kills by the Lady Tigers' Maggie Lutz (So.). St. Francis followed with a 7-point run which included a kill by Jessica Confer and two aces by Karly Bandel. A tip-kill by DCS's Grace Frederick was answered by a strong kill by Jessica Confer. DCS took a time-out trailing 9-3. After another Lutz kill, Confer, Lindsey Johnson and Emma Johnson (2) each added kills to move the scoreboard to 13-5. Six of the next seven volleys ended in Lady Indian errors. Though Lindsey Johnson earned a kill during the action, the Lady Tigers had closed the advantage to 14-11. The next SF kill, by Confer, made the score 18-14. DCS then scored 6 unanswered points though the Lady Indians tried to slow the momentum with a time-out. In the flurry, Frederick earned a kill followed by five straight kills by Sydney Reichert (Jr.). St. Francis now trailed 18-20. A DCS passing error stopped the run, but St. Francis missed their serve attempt; their third of the set. Kills by Frederick and Adalene Krutsinger (2) (Sr.) more than offset a kill by Lauren Johnson in the closing volleys. St. Francis lost set one to DCS 21-25.
St. Francis could only muster one 3-point run the the second set against a powerful DCS squad. DCS opened with kills by by Lutz and Krutsinger. Jessica Confer tied the set at 3-all with an aggressive kill. Frederick answered with back-to-back spikes displaying her power. A tip-kill by Emma Johnson and a strong kill by Hannah Zimbal led to a 5-7 score. When the scored became tied at 8-all, Lutz kept DCS in the lead with another attack. Confer tied the set at 10-all, but again Lutz followed with score for the Lady Tigers. After a SF passing error, kills by Emma Johnson and Confer were separated by a kill by Frederick. St. Francis still trailed 12-13. A three-point DCS run included kills by Frederick and Lutz as well as a stuff by Krutsinger. St. Francis called time-out trailing 12-16 to re-group. After returning to action, St. Francis earned a three-point run on kills by Emma Johnson, Lindsey Johnson, and an ace by Lindsey (15-16). Demonstrating some more of their strong offense and scrambling defense, the Lady Tigers closed the set with a 9-point run. St. Francis lost set two 15-25.The Lady Indians will play Decatur Community and Cheylin in Oberlin on Tuesday, September 25.
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