Mallie McNair goes up for the serve against Wayne. She had a 100% serving performance in Saturday’s district match. (Johnson Publications photo)
The Lady Longhorns hoist the runner-up district trophy in a ceremony after the C1-5 final in Kearney Saturday. (Johnson Publications photo)
Ashley Bubak leans for the dig as Kora Weiss waits to assist in Saturday’s match against Wayne. (Johnson Publications photo)
Sophie Spady, who’s been the team’s setter most of the season, feeds middle hitter Gisselle Acuna. (Johnson Publications photo)
Chase County falls one match short of state berth
Chase County’s volleyball team fell just a match shy of a trip to the state tournament.
Wayne got in the Lady Longhorns’ way Saturday, handing Chase County a four-set loss at the C1-5 District finals in Kearney.
Scores were 12-25, 25-19, 17-25 and 12-25.
The loss stopped a Chase County 16-match winning streak (they hadn’t lost since Sept. 28), but they finished with a commendable 24-8 record for the season.
Coach Sam Kennedy said her team was nervous in the opening set.
“We started nervous, but we are a young team. That was to be expected,” she said.
After dropping that first set, Chase County stormed back in the second taking a quick 2-0 lead before Wayne tied it 4-4.
Wayne held onto the lead until the teams were knotted again 14-14. Chase County maintained a slim lead until the score was tied once more at 19.
But that would be Wayne’s last score in that set, as Chase County went on a six-point, unanswered run to win game two, 25-19.
Set three was back-and-forth, but Wayne pulled away late, scoring several unanswered runs including four points at the end of the set.
A six-point run in game four, giving Wayne an 11-2 lead, was hard to come back from for Chase County as the Lady Blue Devils took the final set and match 25-12.
“We just played awesome in that second set,” Kennedy said.
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