Lady Indians Defeat Greeley County
On Monday, October 7, the St. Francis Lady Indians volleyball teams hosted Greeley County. St. Francis won the best-of-five varsity match-up in three straight sets. After a somewhat sluggish start, the Lady Indians cruised to a 25-21; 25-11, 25-15 win. Only one set of junior varsity action was played. Greeley County won the JV set 19-25.
Both matches were played in the St. Francis High School Gymnasium. The varsity match opened the competition. The first set was close throughout as the Lady Indians' execution was not as crisp as it often is. Emma Johnson opened the first set with an off-the-net ace. Two kills by Mia Morrow helped move the score to 4-3, but then a 4-point Greeley County (GC) run placed the Lady Indians at a 4-7 deficit. GC earned their first kill of the match on the 4th point of the run. The first 6 GC points were a result of errors by the Lady Indians. A kill by Rian Zimbal moved the score to 6-7, but the Lady Jackrabbits soon stretched the margin to 7-11. St. Francis used a time-out attempting to build some momentum. The Lady Indians earned points on the next three volleys to close within one (10-11) getting a tip-kill from Morrow and an ace from Kattie Wurm. A kill by GC's Kamryn Youmans (5' 4" Sr.) ended the run and began a 3-point GC run. Trailing 10-14, the Lady Indians reeled off 5 consecutive points with excellent execution. The run featured three kills by Morrow and one by Jordyn Faulkender. GC took a time-out when St. Francis took the lead (15-14). Morrow then sandwiched one more kill in between two by the Lady Rabbits. Hannah Zimbal's tip gave the Lady Indians a 17-16 advantage and began a three-point SF run that ended with a service error. Three more SF errors and an over-pass kill by GC's Raelynn Welsh (5'8" So.) placed GC back in front (19-20). St. Francis took a 21-20 lead on a strong kill by Hannah Zimbal and then added a three-point run to close the match. The Lady Indians received kills from Johnson and each of the Zimbal sisters to finalize the score. St. Francis won set one 25-24.
The Lady Indians began set two with a 3-point run including an ace by Emma Johnson. A free-ball tip by Mattie Brandl (5' 6" Sr.) ended the run but was followed by two kills by Mia Morrow (5-1). Brandl's on-the-line dump-set and a Morrow ace helped move the score toward 7-3. St. Francis then added a 6-point run increasing the lead to ten (13-3). The run was highlighted by a kill by Rian Zimbal, an ace by Ellee Krien, a well-placed tip by Johnson, and an over-pass stuff by Hanna Zimbal. The run ended on a service error by the Lady Indians, but GC missed their next serve also. Trailing 14-4, GC used a time-out. The teams traded points with Johnson recording a stuff and Jordyn Faulkender a kill for the Lady Indians and Brandl and Grace Whitham (5' 5" So.) earning kills for GC. A three-point GC run ending in an ace by Youmans narrowed the margin to 17-10. St. Francis won 8 of the last 9 volleys to win the match 25-11. In the closing action, Faulkender scored on an over-pass tip and a spike, Hannah Zimbal recorded a kill on a push through a block, and Rian Zimbal smacked a kill.
In set three, the Lady Indians rushed out to a 6-0 lead before GC used their first time-out. The action featured a kill by Hannah Zimbal and two by Mia Morrow. A missed serve by the Lady Indians halted the SF scoring for a moment, but soon the Lady Indians recorded a 4-point run to lead 10-1. This run was highlighted by kills by Jordyn Faulkender, Morrow, and Alondra Gomez. A missed service attempt stopped this run also. The execution by GC improved on the next few volleys and points were exchanged back-and-forth. St. Francis received scoring plays from Morrow, Hannah Zimbal, and Rian Zimbal while the Lady Jackrabbits received scoring from Myla Reynolds (5' 10" So.), Claudia Mancia (5' 2" Jr.), and Whitham. St. Francis earned another 3-point run moving the score to 15-6; but missed their 3rd serve of the set moments later. Several St. Francis substitute players began to see some court time. McKenna Poling recorded a kill moving the score to 16-8. A four-point run by GC narrowed the advantage to 4 points (16-12), but then the Lady Indians responded with a four-point run of their own increasing the margin back to eight (20-12). The Lady Indians closed the set scoring on three straight volleys. Faulkender and Audrey Meyer each recorded kills in the last few volleys. St. Francis won the third set 25-15. St. Francis recorded 13 runs of three points or more in the match; Greeley County had only 5.
Greeley County opened the junior varsity set with a 5-point run. Reynolds and Brianna Hill each had tip-kills in the flurry. After a SF time-out, the Lady Indians earned a 6-point run tying the set at 7-all. It was the only run the Lady Indians would earn in the set. The run resulted from a kill by Audrey Meyer, an ace by McKenna Poling, and two kills by Bailey Workman. Three GC kills and series of attack errors by SF soon moved the scoreboard to 8-14. St. Francis closed within five (12-17) capitalizing on a strong serve by Perla Yanez and kill by Poling. Though the Lady Indians made several nice plays along the way including a well-placed tip by Hailey Robbins, a dump-set by Poling, an kill by Meyer, and a kill by Workman; the Lady Indians lost to the Lady Jackrabbits 19-25.
The Lady Indians will not play again until Tuesday, October 15, when they host teams from Wallace County and Triplains-Brewster.
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