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Bison can't grab momentum in three-set loss to Chase Co.
McCook High School head volleyball coach Krystal Weber has been consistently pleading this fall for a more consistent effort from her Bison squad.
McCook couldn't get momentum on its side long enough to sustain rallies Tuesday, Oct. 25, as Chase County claimed a straight-set win over the Bison. The Longhorns from Imperial took home a 25-13, 25-18, 25-15 decision in the varsity match at the Senior High gym.
Coach Weber praised Riley Allen for a big night at the net for McCook. Allen had 12 kills.
"We finally got to see Riley Allen again. She's done it a few times this season and we were hoping that she would get that confidence and step up consistently like that," Weber said. "If she can do it at the end of the season, then I hope she continued to have that confidence and continues to keep swinging. She is single-handedly the one that kept us in this match by swinging hard and by swinging aggressively. She got great approaches. She was able to mix up her shots, she was able to go cross go down the line."
Coach Weber said her other hitters didn't step up and come close to Allen's effort.
"You can't rely on one hitter three times around (the rotation) in the front row," Weber said.
McCook fell behind 5-0 in the opening set and never recovered. Bison hitting errors helped Chase County stretch the lead to double digits, and Chantal Heathers tipped over the winning point.
The Longhorns outscored McCook 9-1 midway through the second game to take a 19-11 lead. The visitors got to game point at 24-14 after two Bison miscues, but McCook had a mini-rally after two Longhorn errors and a tip by Kira Johnson. Danica Liess hit a point to get the Bison within 24-18, but the Bison lost the next Chase County hit out of bounds for the set win.
McCook got behind early again in the final set, but several strong volleys helped the Bison within 19-12. Chase County then scored six of the next nine points, including Shayla Dinnel's tip for the match winner.
GNAC meet Saturday
McCook, 9-20, will compete in the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday, Oct. 29, at North Platte. The Bison face Columbus at 11:15 a.m. at the North Platte High School auxiliary gym in first-round action.
Coach Weber hopes her team can play well and gain momentum in Saturday's competition. The Bison enter Class B-6 District Tournament action next Tuesday in Ogallala.
Sud-districts next for 'Horns
Chase County, 19-8, will compete in the Class C1-11 Sub-District next week at North Platte. The Longhorns are likely to be the second seed, with a probably semifinal match with Hershey next Tuesday.
Coach Jodie Schuller said some of her players have been involved in FFA and school musical, spreading their time thin in recent weeks.
"It will be nice to actually see them at least get some sleep at night and see how they play when that happens," Schuller said.
Schuller expects 23-8 Ogallala to be the top seed in the C1-11 tournament, and she hopes her team can reach the finals to meet up with the Indians.
"We'll do our best and whatever happens, happens," she said. "We'll take one game at a time, but it would be really fun to get past Hershey and play Ogallala well. We've never beaten them."
| Chase County | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| McCook | 13 | 18 | 15 |
McCook Statistics
Ace Serves -- Sydney Clapp 2.
Kills -- Riley Allen 12, Danica Liess 4, Miranda Holliday 4, Kira Johnson 3, Khyla Krepcik 1, Clapp 1, Brettani Schnmidt 1.
Set Assists -- Brooklynn Trew 22, Hollie Eiler 1, Clapp 1.
Blocks -- Holliday 1.
Defensive Digs -- Brenleigh Daum 11, Trew 9, Schmidt 9, Clapp 8, Allen 6, Eiler 3, Kira Johnson 2, Holliday 2, Khyla Krepcik 1.
Reserves, junior varsity results
McCook lost reserve and junior varsity matches against Chase County Tuesday.
The Bison reserves dropped a 25-14, 25-13 decision to the Longhorns. Assistant coach George Briggs said his McCook squad made too many mistakes in both sets to battle back after falling behind early.
"We had 29 errors, missed serves, setting errors, attack errors, aced serves and in-the-net blocks that spelled disaster for us," Briggs said. "It seems to be an old story -- mistakes. I sometimes think people don't think we work to solve these problems. We do. But, in the heat of the battle, we just forget to do the things we were taught in practice."
Ashton Harpham led McCook with 3 kills.
Briggs said his Bison reserve squad finished second at the Southwest Invitational Monday, with a win over Chase County in first-round play and a loss to Southwest in the championship match.
The McCook reserves ended the season with a 3-8 record.
McCook also dropped a 25-22, 25-20 decision to Chase County in junior varsity competition Tuesday.
Errors also hurt the Bison JV, as McCook had 36 miscues.
"Chase County only had to win 14 points on their own," Briggs said. "It is really hard to overcome those statistics, but we actually had our chances.
"Probably our hitting errors and serving errors helped to contribute to the loss in the first game. Our hitters just kept blasting the ball either into the net or out the end line. It was tied at 21-21, but Chase County went on a four-point run at the end in which we just couldn't terminate an attack."
The Bison JV end the year with a 5-12 record.
"This year we usually break our team huddles after timeouts and between games and shout 'confidence'. That is probably the area these kids need to work on," Briggs said. "They really need to begin to believe in themselves and their teammates and have confidence in their abilities. I am afraid with the many mistakes both squads made, it became harder for them to buy into that idea."
| McCook reserves | 14 | 13 |
| Chase County reserves | 25 | 25 |
McCook statistics leaders:
Serving -- Jamee Stewart 2 aces, Caitlin Leitner 2 aces.
Hitting -- Ashton Harpham 3 kills, Faith Johnson 2 kills, Haley Hudson 2 kills, Madison Shepherd 2 kills.
Setting -- Caitlin Leitner 5 assists.
___
| McCook JV | 22 | 20 |
| Chase County JV | 25 | 25 |
McCook statistics leaders:
Serving -- Brenleigh Daum 3 aces.
Hitting -- Sydney Clapp 6 kills, Brettani Schmidt 5 kills
Setting -- Brenleigh Daum 14 assists.