Lady Longhorns third at conference volleyball

Kimball High School hosted the 2013 Western Trails Conference Volleyball Tournament this past Saturday and the Lady Longhorns captured third place with Mitchell the champions and Bridgeport finishing runner-up.

Mitchell, the number 1 seed received a first round bye, then swept their way through the tournament winning over Kimball in 2 sets 25-19 27-25, and Bridgeport 25-11 25-22. Kimball was in the upper bracket with Mitchell and advanced to the semi finals by winning over Gordon/Rushville 25-16 25-23

In the lower bracket, Bayard defeated Hemingford in first round action and Bridgeport won over Morrill. In semi final play, Bridgeport fell to Bayard 25-22 in the first set but carne back to win the next two sets 25-23 25-20, to move into the championship match. In the match to determine the third place winner, Kimball won over Bayard 26-24 25-23.

In Kimball's win over Gordon/Rushville, Madison Biesecker led with 9 points with 2 ace serves, and had 12 assists.

Courtney Hunsaker also had 2 ace serves. Arica McCloud had 7 digS and Kelly Green 5. Danika Daum had 8 kills, 7 assists, and 3 blocks.

In the match with Mitchell, Biesecker had 4 points with 2 ace serves, 4 kills, and 4 assists. Mikayla Fiehtner had 4 kills. Courtney Hunsaker 4 points and 4 digs. Daum 5 points with 2 ace serves, 4 kills, 7 assists.

In the win over Bayard, Daum had 15 points with 4 ace serves, 4 kills, 9 assists, and 6 digs. Biesecker had 6 points, 6 asists. McCloud had 8 digs and Green 5.

Coach Vicki Mitchell said, "Each game lately we have shown improvement. Our match with Mitchell was a disappointment, but we came back in the second set to almost win and I am proud of the effort of the girls. Our back row passing and the hitting is corning on. It forces teams to play tough defense against us". As to individuals, coach Mitchell said "I hate to mention individuals as each game someone different steps up".

With their third place finish, all of the Kimball girls received medals. Coach Mitchell said this past week was the biggest week of the school year so far for school spirit.

"We had a great Pep Rally for the weekend. Credit Jeri Ferguson for getting things going, and the cheer leaders and Pep Band, and the boys. Everyone was great!"

Along with the outstanding volleyball, and the large turn out of fans from all of the schools, the fight against cancer was big at the tournament as well. Coach Mitchell informed the crowd that $1,700 would be given to the 10 year old daughter of the Gordon/Rushville coach, Steph Lovell, who just carne down with cancer recently. Also $850 was given to the Andy Shaw Memorial, and in 8 minutes, the Kimball Cheer Leaders collected $607 as they raced through the stands with pink buckets accepting donations. It truly was a big weekend for Kimball and the Western Trails Conference volleyball programs.

Also this past week, Kimball hosted Perkins County and won in three straight sets 27-17 25-18 25-21. Biesecker had 6 points, 2 ace serves, 4 kills, 12 assists. Hunsaker had 7 points. Green 9 kills. Fiehtner 4 blocks. Daum 7 points, 8 kills, 5 blocks and 8 digs. Hanks 6 points. McCloud 9 points and 14 digs.

The Kimball team was to close out the regular season this past Tuesday at Sidney before moving into sub-district tournament play on November 4-5 in Ogallala. At the time of this writing, the bracketing had not been determined. Teams involved are Kimball, Bayard, Bridgeport, Perkins County, and Dundy County/Stratton with the winner advancing to a district tournament playoff at a site to be determined later.