Volleyball team opens season on road Thursday

    Chase County’s Lady Longhorns begin their 2018-19 volleyball campaign tonight (Thursday) on the road to Haxtun, Colorado.
    Coach Jodie Schuller and her two assistants are working with a roster of 18 players, who Schuller says are ready for a match. Games start at 4 p.m. in Haxtun, opening with the C match, followed by JV and varsity.
    “It’s time for a game; the kids are ready,” she said Monday.
    When they walk out onto the floor in Haxtun Thursday, it will be after nearly four weeks of practice for Chase County.
    But, even with the added week of preparation again this season, Schuller said there’s still a lot of work to do in all areas of the game—passing, setting and hitting.
    “We’re not at our best yet. But that’s not so bad because we hope to see continued improvement all season,” she said.
    At the top of her list of team strengths this season is experience.
    “This team has played together a lot,” she said.
    “We have the togetherness, but holding onto that the entire match is the challenge,” she added.
    Since the opener Thursday is against a single team, the best three out of five games will determine the match winner. Schuller said the team must go into the match with that mentality.
    After all, she said, volleyball is 90 percent mental and 10 percent skill.
    The Lady Longhorns will likely be “mixing it up” again this season, the coach said, as they use both a 5-1 and 6-2 offense.
    She wasn’t ready to announce her varsity starters on Monday, and hasn’t changed her position that volleyball is a team sport. She intends to highlight that with her squad.
    “Serving really is the only individual statistic in volleyball,” she said.
    “It’s all about the 18 girls at practice and on the bench, as well as my two assistants,” she said.

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