CCS volleyball sees ups, downs in 3-1 week

Volleyball fans were on the edge of their seats last week during Chase County matches.
    Action started Tuesday with a back-and-forth battle against Sedgwick County, Colorado.
    The Cougars were Class 2A runners up in volleyball last year and were sitting undefeated on top of that class this season.
    Both teams came out slugging in the first set. CCS fell behind 1-7, but battled back to take its first lead 23-22. The Longhorns held off set point and scored the final three points of the set to get a 26-24 win.
    CCS grabbed the lead early in the second set before a six-point lead evaporated, leaving the Longhorns trailing 13-15. With Joee Clevenger serving, CCS rallied to tie the game at 18. Liz Reeves erased a one-point deficit from the service line to give CCS a 25-21 win in set two.
    Sedgwick County was far from done and the momentum of the match swung its way.
    The Cougars tough net play caused the Longhorns fits and CCS struggled as attacking and defense broke down. The Longhorns lost the third set 16-25 and the fourth set 13-25.
    CCS Head Coach April Lambert said it wasn’t hard to bounce back in the fifth set.
    “I think we were prepared for it after being in the hole so much in sets three and four. We knew we had to come out strong and win in the first few rotations, which we did,” she said.
    CCS jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Sophomore Tristan Nordhausen came off the bench to serve and increased an 8-4 lead to 12-4. The Longhorns took the match with a 15-10 win.
    “I felt like our servers stayed really confident behind the line and we played to win in that fifth set. Our girls played fearlessly,” Lambert said.
    Bryn McNair had 24 kills in the match. Gisselle Acuna also finished in double figures with 16 kills.
McCook Tournament Saturday
    The Longhorns opened Saturday’s tournament in McCook with a 21-25, 17-25 loss to Cambridge.
    Cambridge controlled the net in the contest.
    Lambert said the Trojans were by far the biggest and strongest block CCS has seen yet this season, and it was a good experience for its hitters.
    “We need to learn how to persist and keep firing aggressively when faced with a big block at the net,” Lambert said, adding she thought CCS hitters got a little spooked and tried to hit around the block, so there were a lot of attacking errors.
    “Sometimes there isn’t really an open spot against good teams like that and the only way to wear them down is to stay aggressive and speed up the offense, which is something we will work on,” Lambert added.
    Chase County rolled to a fifth-place finish with a 25-9, 25-16 win over Decatur Community, Kansas in the second round and a 25-14, 25-18 win over Gering in the fifth-place match.
    McNair had 12 kills against Decatur Community. Against Gering, McNair had eight kills and Acuna seven.
    Clevenger had four aces against Decatur Community.
    Lambert said a three-game tournament is tough for everyone, but she thought her Longhorns did a nice job staying motivated.
    “They wanted to win those games, and they did a nice job finishing those teams out in two sets and staying consistent,” she said.
Up next
    There’s little time for the 8-3 Longhorns to rest in the upcoming weeks.
    Sidney, ranked 10th in Class B by the Omaha World Herald, was in town for matches Tuesday this week.
    Thursday CCS will travel to St. Francis, Kansas for matches against the 10-2 Indians and 0-11 Dundy County Stratton.
    CCS will take on St. Francis at 4:30 p.m. CT then take on DCS in the following match. The Longhorn JV will play St. Francis at 5:30 p.m. CT in the grade school gym.
    The Longhorns will take part in the Sutherland Tournament Saturday.
    Next week, CCS will have a triangular Tuesday with Perkins County and Gothenburg in Grant, before hosting Sutherland and Maxwell Thursday.
    With little time to practice, Lambert said CCS will just have to keep making little adjustments from game to game.
    “We have to speed up practice and get a lot of elements in each day because we only have one day to prepare for one or two or even three teams,” Lambert said.
    “We have to stay fast and hard in practice to keep them ready for the intensity of the upcoming week,” she added.