Coach witnessed good progress in her 24-8 Lady Longhorn team

    As Coach Sam Kennedy looks back on the 2019 volleyball season, she sees a lot of improvement in a team that finished with a noteworthy 24-8 record.
    The Lady Longhorns advanced all the way to the district finals this season, falling a match short of getting to the state tournament. Wayne handed Chase County a four-set loss Nov. 2 in the C1-5 finals at Kearney to end their season.
    Still, Chase County finished No. 13 in the final Class C1 point standings.
    Kennedy said she was most pleased with her team’s improvement in blocking this year, which included 134 solo blocks and a 5.2 match average.
    Freshman Gisselle Acuna was the team blocking leader with 54, while fellow freshman Bryn McNair tallied 36.
    By season’s end, Kennedy saw big improvement in her team’s serve receive, as well, something they had struggled with at times early on.    
    “We really had improved by the end of the year,” she said. While there’s more work to do next season, Kennedy saw good things, too, by season’s end in the game’s digging stats.
    The team fielded a total of 1,195 digs this year, averaging 37.3 per match. Chase County libero Kora Weiss picked up the most with 282. Also over the 200-mark were Mallie McNair, 249, and Ashley Bubak, 244.
    Offensively, Mallie McNair and Bubak finished as Chase County’s top hitters. McNair bypassed the 300-mark with 301 kills recorded, while Bubak scored on 164 kills. Bryn McNair also contributed with 119 kills, as the team tallied a total of 789 this season and a 9.9 kill average per set.
    Their offense helped the team finish with a .177 hitting efficiency average.
    At the serving line, Chase County was 89.2% efficient this season and recorded a total of 167 aces. Bubak completed the season with the most aces at 39. Bryn McNair added 31, Weiss 26 and Sophie Spady 20. Spady also scored the most points on serves with 204.

To read more on this and other stories, please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. https://etypeservices.com/Imperial%20RepublicanID359/