Lady Longhorns take second at Gordon-Rushville tourney

The Lady Longhorns started their 2018 season in a triangular with Hemingford and Gordon-Rushville on Aug. 23.

The Kimball volleyballers took the first set against Hemingford 25-16 before losing the next two sets with a narrow margin, 25-22 and 25-21.

Though Coach Jeri Ferguson prefers the girls not concentrate on their personal stats, the unofficial stats taken during the games put Madison Wynne high on the game with nine points against Hemingford, including two ace serves, followed by Sydney Biesecker with seven points and one ace.

Jenna Greenwood racked up a game high 11 kills and added five points to the Lady Horns' board.

Biesecker had six kills and six digs while Wynne was credited with 17 set assists.

The Lady Horns lost to Gordon-Rushville in two sets, 24-26 and 19-25, with Jaydin Paxton high for the game, earning six points followed by Kiersten Anderson with five and Greenwood with four.

Anderson was credited with eight digs and Biesecker five while Greenwood was high for kills with four, followed by Paxton with three and Biesecker with two.

The Kimball girls traveled to Bridgeport on Aug. 30 where again Wynne led with seven points, 16 assists and one kill. Biesecker and Anderson each scored four points and Greenwood three.

Biesecker had 13 digs, two kills and a block, followed by Anderson with 11 digs and Greenwood eight kills and three digs.

The Lady Horns visited Bridgeport again on Tuesday, Sept. 4 for a triangular with Garden County with split results, losing to their host in two sets, 20-25 and 18-25 then taking Garden County in three close, 25-22, 22-25 and 25-20.

Wynne and Paxton each scored four points against Bridgeport with Greenwood adding three in addition to a game high seven kills.

Against Garden County, Megan Spicer led scoring with 13, including one ace, followed by Kate Reader with 11 and Greenwood with 9.

The girls upped their game significantly, racking up 23 assists for Wynne, 10 kills for Reader, eight for Biesecker and seven for Greenwood. Biesecker added 16 digs with Greenwood and Reader following with four and three respectively.

Two days later the Lady Horns faced the Mitchell Tigers and the Potter-Dix Coyotes, two traditionally tough teams.

Kimball walked away with losses to Mitchell in two quick sets, 7-25 and 6-25 and then to Potter-Dix, though the Lady Horns took the first set 25-14 before narrowly losing the next two 22-25 and 21-25.

Struggling to score against the Lady Tigers, Kimball's unofficial stats don't give us the scorers for the seven and six sets, but Greenwood was credited with three kills, Biesecker with two and two digs and Anderson with three digs.

Against the Bridgeport ladies, scoring was led by Reader with 10, including four aces served, followed by Spicer with nine points, Wynne and Biesecker with four each and Paxton with two.

Paxton led in kills, totaling six on the game, and Biesecker, Greenwood and Reader each got four.

"Thursday night we did not play up to our potential," coach Jeri Ferguson said, "but we used that to motivate us on Saturday when we played much better."

Rounding out the first few weeks of play, the Kimball girls traveled to Gordon for a round robin style tournament beginning with a win against Crawford, 25-15 and 28-26.

Anderson led scoring with six points, followed by Paxton with five, Wynne, Reader and Biesecker with four each, Spicer with two and Greenwood with one.

The Lady Horns won in three sets against Hemingford, 24-26, 25-19 and 25-18 with Greenwood lead score earner with 12, followed by Reader with 10, Biesecker with seven, Wynne with four and Anderson with two.

Kimball's sole loss in the tournament came from host Gordon-Rushville in just two sets, 21-25 and 13-25 with Reader high scorer for the Lady Horns with four, followed by Greenwood with three, Biesecker and Anderson with two each and Wynne with one.

The Lady Horns battled Hay Springs and took the win in two sets, 25-19 and 25-15, for a second place finish in the tournament.

Spicer led scoring with nine, Reader followed with six, Anderson five, and Wynne, Greenwood and Biesecker with two each.

Wynne racked up 11 assists and three digs in the game while Greenwood led in kills with five, followed by Biesecker with three and Reader with two.

"We will continue to work hard to play better and better each week," Ferguson added.

Fans can catch some Kimball Volleyball action tonight, Thursday, Sept. 13, here at home against Sutherland before hitting the road for Hershey on Tuesday, Sept. 18.