CCS volleyball on the run, will stay busy

    Volleyball season kicked into high gear last week for Chase County.
    The team faced five opponents and picked up two wins.
    CCS traveled to McCook for a triangular with the Bison and Minden Tuesday.
    CCS Head Coach April Lambert said she thought the Longhorns rebounded well after their loss to Ogallala in the season opener.  
    “We are still pretty inexperienced and ran a different rotation that worked out well,” she said.
    CCS played Minden (8-0) in its first game.
    Chase County trailed by two points, 9-11, before Minden used two big serving runs to pull away. CCS lost the set 18-25. The Longhorns stayed within a point or two before grabbing a 15-13 lead. CCS couldn’t hold serve over the next six rotations and lost 21-25.
    The evening ended with a win over McCook. Back-to-back serving runs by Bryn McNair and Ali McNair gave Chase County a comfortable 15-7 lead. CCS took the first set 25-15. McCook gave the Longhorns all they wanted early on, leaving CCS trailing 4-9. Chase County righted the ship and used three three-point scoring runs to take the match 25-21.
    “I thought we did well against Minden who is undefeated, but we have some work to do on our block and defense.  Against McCook our offense got a little bit tired, so we need to condition our transition offense to be strong through multiple games,” Lambert said.
Lexington tourney
    CCS faced SPVA foe Hershey (4-3) in the first round of Saturday’s tournament.
    Hershey had first serve and never looked back. Chase County lost the set 21-25. The trend continued with CCS falling 14-25 in the second set.
    Lambert said the Panthers have some offensive power that CCS will need to stop on the outside and the Longhorns will need to play better defense.  
    “We were running a new lineup against Hershey and there was some confusion with it and nerves. We were getting used to each other and trying to find that trust in new roles again, so we had to focus on that and weren’t at our best,” Lambert said.
    CCS rebounded with a win over another SPVA opponent, North Platte St. Pat’s (3-4).
    “I was proud of how the girls came out against St. Pat’s after that initial game of struggle.  They had fire in their eyes and a renewed confidence.  We served well, hit well, and passed well,” Lambert said.
    CCS was able to hold serve in the first set. Joee Clevenger led big runs to help Chase County take a 25-20 win.
    Olivia Spady led the Longhorns on a 7-2 lead in the second set, but St. Pat’s put together a run of its own to leave CCS trailing 10-14. Chase County couldn’t overtake the Irish and dropped the set 22-25.
    The battle continued into the final set. With Landree McNair serving, the Longhorns took the 13-9 lead. CCS was able to trade enough points with the Irish to win 25-21.
    The day wrapped up with a match against Broken Bow (2-4).
    Lambert said Broken Bow is a historically great team who is also rebuilding after losing the Scott twins.  
    “They served incredibly tough and gave our serve receive problems, but our team grew through that match and fought the whole way,” Lambert said.
    The match was a battle throughout. CCS took an 11-6 lead in the first set, but had to fight off a late Broken Bow rally to claim the set 26-24. In the second set, it was the Longhorns who fell behind early, 7-13. Chase County couldn’t rally and lost the set 17-25. The third set went down to the wire. Once more CCS claimed the early lead 7-3. Broken Bow rallied to leave the Longhorns trailing 11-16. CCS forced four consecutive side outs to pull itself back in the game, but, in the end, fell 24-26.
    “Even though it didn’t come out the way we wanted, we were within two points and that is great progress on the day,” Lambert said.
Up next
    The Longhorns traveled to Yuma, Colorado Tuesday.
    Lambert said she expected Yuma to be tough servers.
    “So it will be another good opportunity for our serve receive to improve and hopefully settle into our new offense and new lineup,” she said.
    The C team will head back to Colorado for the Wray triangular Saturday.
    The trend of Colorado matches will continue next week when CCS takes on Sedgwick County Tuesday.
JV, reserve teams battle Bison
    The Longhorn reserve and JV team played McCook Aug. 29. The reserve team won 20-25, 26-24, 15-13. The reserve team won 25-15, 25-19.