Season ends for Bison spikers

Friday, November 2, 2007

McCook falls

to Holdrege

in Class B-5

district tourney

KEARNEY -- A successful season concluded for the McCook High School Bison varsity volleyball with a 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-10 loss to Holdrege Thursday night at the Nebraska Class B-5 district tournament at Kearney.

McCook finished the season with a 17-15 record.

Holdrege improved to 24-5 and will play No. 1 seed Grand Island Northwest (30-3) in the district finals tonight at 7 p.m.

GINW defeated Lexington 25-8, 25-15, 25-16 in the semifinals. Lexington finished the season with a 16-19 record.

Lexington defeated Adams Central in the first round 25-10, 25-22, 25-15. Adams Central posted an 8-18 record.

The district winner advances to the Class B state tournament Nov. 9-10 at Lincoln.

Joanna Bryant and Ashley Palic each had 2 ace serves for the Bison against Holdrege and Hanah Swanhorst had 1.

Swanhorst had 15 kills, followed by Tara Powell 8, Palic 8, Bryant 6, Lindsey Hazlitt 5 and Erica Clapp 3. Clapp had 31 set assists, Hazlitt 10 and Bryant 1.

Clapp, Swanhorst, Hazlitt and Bryant each had half a block. Powell had 10 digs, Bryant 9, Clapp 8, Palic 8, Hazlitt 6, Corinne Burger 2, Swanhorst 1 and Audrie Krepcik 1.

"It was a tough way to end the season," said McCook coach Krystal Weber. "To have such a close battle with Holdrege and not be able to come out on top is a heartbreaker for the team.

"We started out slow in Game 1 with poor passing and hitting errors, but once the nerves went away, the kids fought back. We fought off match point five times to give us momentum heading into the next game.

"In Game 2, we really went after them with our serves and got them frustrated early on. We jumped out to a big lead, and their hitters became frustrated and started to make a lot of mistakes.

"We were still struggling with our blocking and just weren't setting the block correctly on their hitters to allow them to get back into the game. But, we pushed through to finish the game and go into Game 3 tied 1-1.

"In game 3, it was just a battle back and forth, point for point. Once again, we found ourselves up 22-19 and all we had to do was finish the game. We had to use both timeouts in the next four points because we were just making silly mental errors.

"We would have great digs off of Holdrege's attack from serve receive, giving us the oppotunity to get a point, but we either struggled to locate the set or our hitters blasted the ball out of bounds. That type of mental let down in a tight game 3 is tough to come back from.

"In Game 4, we went into panic mode. Holdrege came after us in serve receive, and we didn't step up to the challenge. We just had the wind let out of our sails and couldn't seem to get it back.

"I am extremely proud of the kids for their accomplishments this season. They really improved throughout the season and put a lot of heart and desire into what they were doing.

"To get compliments from officials, other coaches, and the fans from the other teams that we played on how fun it is to watch this group of girls play together as a team speaks volumes for what this team has accomplished.

"We are going to miss our three seniors next year -- Corinne Burger, Erica Clapp and Lindsey Hazlitt. Those three young ladies really have a passion for this game and worked very hard this season as leaders on the court.

"We have a lot of kids coming back next year, but also some big shoes to fill in the setter and libero positions to complement our returning hitters."

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