With steady concentration, Sophie Spady sets up the ball as Mallie McNair makes her approach. (Johnson Publications photo)
Ragan Nickless had her best night of the season on offense against Hershey, racking up a whopping 24 kills in the Lady Longhorns’ final home appearance of the season Oct. 17. Here, she sends one past a pair of Hershey defenders. (Johnson Publications photo)
Peyton Fiedler was one of Chase County’s most effective servers against Hershey. She had four of the team’s eight ace serves in the match. (Johnson Publications photo)
Volleyball team heads to post-season play on Monday
After a pair of tough volleyball matches at McCook Tuesday, Chase County heads into post-season play next week.
North Platte High School will again be the site for Chase County’s subdistrict tournament, the C-11, when the Lady Longhorns travel there next week.
Although the official NSAA bracket won’t be out online until today (Thursday), Chase County looks to be the No. 3 seed in the five-team tournament Monday and Tuesday.
It somewhat depended on the outcome of games Tuesday night, when Chase County had two tough matches with Minden and McCook.
Whether Chase County is the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in subdistricts, they’ll most likely be playing Gothenburg first round Monday in the 5:30 p.m. MT game. The championship game is set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. MT
Earlier this season at a Sept. 26 triangular in Imperial, Chase County lost a very close match to Gothenburg, 18-25, 25-20 and 21-25.
Coach Jodie Schuller felt it was a match they should have won, saying this week she’s glad to have the chance to play them again.
Early this week before Tuesday’s matches, Chase County and Gothenburg were less than half a point apart in the NSAA point standings, which determines subdistrict seeding.
Schuller said of her team, “It’s in their hands. I believe in these girls.”
It’s great to see the team peaking at the right time, too, she said.
The district volleyball tournament system started last year will be used again this season for state qualification, Schuller said.
All 12 Class C-1 subdistrict tournament winners early next week automatically qualify for the district final matches the following Saturday, Nov. 4.
The next four C-1 teams with the highest wild card point averages also qualify (after the subdistrict tourney winners are removed), making the 16 district tournament teams.
For the eight district final matches on Nov. 4, teams will be matched up with the No. 1 seed vs. No. 16 seed, No. 2 vs. No. 15, and so on.
Winners of the eight matches Nov. 4 will qualify for the state tournament, Nov. 9-11 in Lincoln.
Big win over Hershey
Chase County picked up a big win over Hershey last week, three days after the Lady Longhorns won the SPVA Conference title.
While they did not play Hershey at the SPVA tourney, Coach Jodie Schuller said Hershey is always a competitive match.
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