Bison spikers go 2-0 at Lexington; McCook improves to 14-8

Friday, October 5, 2007

LEXINGTON -- The McCook High School varsity volleyball team improved to 14-8 with victories over Lexington and Gothenburg Thursday night at Lexington.

McCook defeated Lexington 18-25, 25-14, 25-21 and Gothenburg 25-15, 25-21. In the other match, Lexington defeated Gothenburg, 24-26, 25-17, 25-10

In the Gothenburg match, Tara Powell had 3 ace serves, Hanah Swanhorst 2, Lindsey Hazlitt 1 and Joanna Bryant 1. Powell had 9 kills, Bryant 8 and Ashley Palic 8. Hazlitt had 18 set assists, Erica Clapp 14 and Powell 1. Swanhorst had 1.5 blocks, Palic 1 and Hazlitt 0.5. Clapp had 15 digs, Krepcik 13 and Hazlitt 9.

In the Gothenburg match, Jordan Baumbach had 3 ace serves, Bryant 3 and Clapp 2. Powell had 7 kills, Bryant 5, Swanhorst 4 and Hazlitt 4. Clapp had 18 set assists and Hazlitt 5. Swanhorst had 1.5 blocks and Hazlitt 0.5. Audrie Krepcik had 11 digs, Powell 8 and Corinne Burger 8.

"We came away with two nice wins tonight even though we struggled a little with our serving and passing at times," said McCook coach Krystal Weber. "Against Lexington, we found ourselves down 7 points right from the beginning, but once we got into a rhythm passing the ball, our hitters did a nice job of finding the open areas. It's nice to see that the girls have confidence enough to fight their way back from being down. Last year, that wouldn't have happened.

"Our middles seem to get a little more involved each match, which adds another dimension to our offense. Defensively, we hesitated on a few easy balls, but did a nice job defending Lexington's middle attackers. Gothenburg had a little momentum boost when they won Game 1 over Lexington. They are a much improved team, but we came out serving aggressively from the first point, so they struggled passing in Game 1.

"In Game 2, we started rolling early again, but made some mental mistakes with passing and hitting to allow them to get back into the game. However, we kept our composure and finished off the match. Audrie Krepcik did a nice job stepping in for Ashley Palic against Gothenburg. We wanted to rest Ashley's knee in the second match after a grueling weekend at Gering so that she could be ready for four tough matches next week."

McCook plays at Southwest at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and competes in a triangular at Ogallala Oct. 13 against Ogallala and Scottsbluff.

McCook JV vs. Lexington JV -- McCook's JV spikers won over Lexington Thursday. The Bison (8-2) won 25-19, 25-21 over Lexington.

"This was really a fun match to watch and play in," said Bison coach George Briggs. "As the final scores in each of the games indicate, both games were pretty close. I thought our team nine-aced serves was a big difference in the match. We also were able to put a couple of runs of points that gave us four and five-point leads for our final rotations. Besides Whitney's leading six kills, we also had three other girls who connected on five kills each. Lexington, especially, in the first game, served us pretty tough and it seemed like our outsides were really struggling to find a rhythm in their attacks."

Brianna Watkins led the Bison in serves going 9-for-10 with four aces. Katie West was 10-for-11 and had three aces. Whitney Korgan was 7-for-8 in hitting with six kills and Watkins had 18 assists.

McCook JV vs. Gothenburg -- McCook's JV volleyball defeated Gothenburg in two sets Tuesday 25-10, 25-8. "This is the second time we have faced Gothenburg's JV's," Briggs said. "We played them on Tuesday night with the same outcome. What was different about the match was how we were able to finish a lot of attacks off of their attacks and freeballs.

"The girls really did a good job of keeping in-system. Although we had 15 ace serves against Gothenburg, we also produced 22 kills and hit at .571 efficiency. Katie West did an outstanding job of hitting from the right side. Besides our passing, I think Brianna Watkins really did an outstanding job of delivering very hittable balls throughout both matches."

Morgan Chitwood led the Bison in serving with 5 aces and was 11-for-14. Jayde Aufrecht and Katie West were both leading hitters. Aufrecht had 5 kills and West had 4. Brianna Watkins led in setting with 17 assists.

"Next week will be a very busy week for us and the varsity. We travel to Southwest High School for a match on Tuesday, are at home on Thursday with North Platte and travel to Ogallala for a triangular with Ogallala and Scottsbluff. It will be interesting how the girls react to this run of matches as they all will be very challenging."

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