Lady Wildcats add two sweeps to winning record

Fleming's Lady Wildcats added two sweeps to their prior 7-1 season record last week. The local ladies traveled to Caliche on Tuesday, Sept. 14 where they took a quick win over the Lady Buffaloes and headed to Holyoke on Saturday, Sept. 18 to play a close contest with the 2A Lady Dragons.

Tuesday's action at Caliche finished fast with the Lady Wildcats holding the Lady Buffaloes to single digits in sets one and three. Fleming earned a three-set sweep by scores of 25-9, 25-11 and 25-7.

Sophomore Madi Serrato served eight aces in the contest. She made just one serving error on 26 attempts. Seniors Whitney Chintala and Sam Pope followed with three aces apiece.

Junior Kally Kirkwood led at the net offensively and defensively. She put 12 kills on the floor with just one hitting error. On defense, she put up six blocks; four solo and two assisted.

Junior Lexi Schaefer led the Lady Wildcats' back row efforts. She put up nine digs and received eight serves with one error between the two categories.

Serrato followed in digs with six; Chintala added another five.

Chintala followed Schaefer in serve-receive putting up seven passes. Senior Zoey Vandenbark added another five passes from the back row.

Saturday's match at Holyoke proved a little more competitive for the Lady Wildcats. Although the Lady Dragons fell in three, they put up more comparable scores to the visiting team coming within three and four points in all three sets. Fleming swept, 25-22, 25-21 and 25-22.

Five players hit double digits in digs from the back row against Holyoke. Chintala led the charge with 23 ups. Schaefer followed closely behind Chintala's effort with 21 digs. Vandenbark and Kirkwood each added 15 digs; Pope rounded out the top five diggers with 11.

Three of the five also led in passes on serve receive. Schaefer led in that column with 25 passes. Chintala put up 22 while Vandenbark added another 10.

Kirkwood contributed top numbers at the net in kills with 17. She also added three blocks on defense at the net. Junior Maddy Harms matched Kirkwood's defensive showing at the net with three blocks of her own. She put up one solo and two assisted blocks.

Junior Laney Schliesser and Kirkwood split setting duties for the match. Schliesser assisted the Lady Wildcat hitters with 18 sets; Kirkwood put up 13 for the match.

The wins put the Lady Wildcats at 9-1 on the season. They maintain a 3-1 league record.

This week, the Lady Wildcats stay on the road with matches on Thursday, Sept. 23 and Wednesday, Sept. 29.

The first contest of the week takes them to Lone Star to face off with the Lady Longhorns. According to MaxPreps, the Lady Longhorns enter at 4-5 overall. Results of a match last Thursday at St. Francis, Kan., were not reported on the site. Game time at Lone Star is set for 5:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, Sept. 29, Fleming takes their game on the road to Gilcrest where they'll take on the Valley High School Lady Vikings. Valley, a 3A team, stands at 6-2 overall and currently holds the number five spot in their league at 1-1 in league play. Match time at Gilcrest is slated for 5 p.m.