Longhorn volleyball top seed in SPVA

    The Chase County volleyball team has been able to stay close to home in recent weeks.
    Last week the Longhorns swept a triangular against Southwest and North Platte St. Pat’s then traveled to Grant to take on Perkins County.
    CCS Head Coach April Lambert said it is nice to not be out on the road on long trips.
    “We also really enjoy playing in front of our home crowd. We had a great crowd and student section in Grant on Thursday,” Lambert said, adding, it was definitely a postseason atmosphere.
    “We really relied on our student section to keep us fighting in that game. There is great energy right now,” she said.
    The Longhorns took on St. Pat’s (13-10) to open the triangular Oct. 5
    Chase County jumped all over the Irish early, but it was a nine-point serving run by Tristan Nordhausen that finished off St. Pat’s, 25-12.
    The Longhorns stayed in control during set two. Jerzee Milner opened up a 9-4 lead for CCS. The Longhorns held their biggest lead at 20-9 before winning the set 25-16.
    Bryn McNair had 10 kills for CCS.
    The Longhorns had a serving percentage of 95.9 in the match.
    After NPSP swept Southwest, it was Chase County’s turn to face the Roughriders (15-8).
    CCS trailed 4-7 early in set one, but used a four-point serving run by Chloe Dillan to take a one-point lead. The set saw ties at 17 and 21 points, before Joee Clevenger served the set’s final points for a 25-21 CCS win.
    The Longhorns dominated Southwest in the second set. A six-point serving run by Giselle Acuna to give CCS a 23-9 lead highlighted the set. Chase County won the set 25-10.
    CCS hit .403 in the match. McNair had 18 kills and Acuna tallied 10.
    The Longhorns’ good serving carried over into the match. CCS finished the night at 93.9%.
    It took four sets for CCS to down the Plainsmen (13-9)Thursday.
    CCS took a 12-7 lead in set one, but Perkins County closed the gap to one point, 13-12, then tied the match at 21. Nordhausen set CCS up with match point in the 25-22 win.
    Perkins County led throughout the second set, a 22-25 CCS loss.
    The Longhorns turned the match around in the third set. Dillan served CCS on a four-point run to give Chase County a comfortable lead before Liz Reeves finished off the Plainsmen in the 25-16 win.
    CCS was even more dominant in the fourth set, allowing Perkins County to hold serve just once in the match, a 25-13 win.

    McNair finished with 24 kills and Acuna 10 in the win. Acuna also had six blocks.
    CCS freshmen and sophomores split games at the Sutherland quad Monday.
    The Longhorns lost to St. Pat’s 19-25, 20-25, then beat Sutherland 18-25, 25-7, 15-11.
Up next
    The Longhorns put their 20-4 record on the line Tuesday against Kimball (3-16).
    The SPVA tournament will be played Saturday in Grant, and CCS has the top seed.
    “The importance of a first-round bye is you only have to play two games, so you can have really fresh legs in the final game,” Lambert said.
    However, she added, the danger of a first-round bye is coming out flat and getting upset, which is what CCS was able to do to second seeded Hershey last year.
    Lambert said she felt like Chase County ran out of gas last year in the championship game against Bridgeport after that tough second round game against Hershey.
    “We will do some mental preparation around both of these aspects in the week leading up to in practice,” Lambert said.
    Hershey is on a 12-game win streak and will be a different team than the one CCS beat Sept. 4 at the Lexington Tournament, Lambert noted.
    “We need to take care of business in the first round and then it could be a Top 10 matchup for conference finals,” she said.
    CCS is currently eighth in the Class C1 point standings and Hershey is 11th.