Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Maddie Wynne gets above to net to drop a surprise down on the Hershey court.
Coming into last week with a record of 5-7 the Lady Longhorns were facing a long week playing first, the C1 team from Hershey who was 8-7 on Tuesday, and then on Thursday hosting two tough local Class B schools, Sidney and Gering.
The start of the week playing Hershey in set #1 was a very close score of 23-25, just dropping it by two points. Hoping to conquer the next 2 sets, the girls fell to the Panthers 8-25 and 12-25. Unofficial stats show an even showing of the girls' stats with Kate Reader leading with six kills, Jenna Greenwood with five, Jaydin Paxton two, and Sydney Biesecker with one. Madison Wynne gave 12 assists and three digs. Biesecker with nine digs on defense and Wynne with three.
Thursday would be a hard evening but the ladies worked deep, playing in a home triangular, losing to Gering in two sets 10-25, 21-25. The second set getting closer and closer to topping them, but just falling short of the peak. Official stats showing once again Reader with six kills out of her 21 attempts, Greenwood with three, Paxton and Wynne with one. Only one solo block to Paxton. Defense looked better in this game with a showmanship of Wynne with nine, Biesecker with six, Reader three, Kiersten Anderson two, Greenwood, Paxton, Megan Spicer and Sierra Rutledge all having an additional one each.
Coach Ferguson said, "I was really pleased on our defensive improvements both in blocking and digging, Mentally being stronger and stopping the 5-7 point runs we are giving up to our opponents." Wynne lead the team with assists again with seven, but Paxton and Spicer stepped in to help out with one each. Anderson really came through having 19 service receives, Biesecker eight, Rutledge four, Spicer and Reader following up with two.
The final game of the night on Sept. 20 was against a top performing team, the Sidney Lady Raiders. Coming into the game the Lady Raiders were 10-2, only losing to Alliance on Sept. 13 and Gering earlier in the night. Ferguson said, "I am very pleased with the leadership the seniors are providing on and off the court. Jenna Greenwood has been stepping up and improving and against Sidney she was a good vocal leader."
A look at only unofficial stats show there wasn't much backing down to Sidney. The Lady Longhorns held their ground and gave the Lady Raiders a couple of sets to work for, even though Sidney pulled through the first two sets to end the night, 16-25 and 18-25 and the Longhorns week. Unofficial stats show Biesecker with four kills and four digs. Paxton with two kills, Wynne with seven assists. Greenwood with six points including two aces. And Spicer with three points.
Coach Ferguson stated "There were no game changing plays just very proud of how they took on two opponents that are two classes larger and didn't back down."
The Kimball Lady Longhorns go to visit the Pine Bluff Lady Hornets Thursday, Sept. 27, and travel to Bayard to participate in a triangular with Potter-Dix on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
