Fleming Lady Wildcats go 1-1 last week with tough upcoming agenda

The Fleming Lady Wildcats went 1-1 on the court over the past week with a loss to 3A's Valley Lady Vikings out of Gilcrest and a league sweep over the Weldon Valley Lady Warriors.

The local ladies went on the road to Gilcrest last Wednesday, Sept. 29 where they suffered their second loss of the season - this time to the 10-3 Valley Lady Vikings. The Lady Wildcats took the top-five ranked Valley team to five sets, winning sets two and three 25-23 and 25-19. Valley grabbed wins in sets one, four and five for the 3-2 victory, 25-23, 25-19 and 15-9.

Fleming's back row put up stellar numbers with five players hitting double digits in digs. Junior Libero Lexi Schaefer led with 38 digs in the contest. Senior Whitney Chintala followed with 28. Junior Kally Kirkwood contributed 20 while senior Zoey Vandenbark and junior Madi Serrato rounded the top performers with 15 and 14, respectively.

The trio of Schaefer, Vandenbark and Chintala led on serve receive also from the back row. Schaefer put up 30 passes. Vandenbark and Chintala also added double digits with 22 and 19 ups, respectively.

Kirkwood and Chintala split setting and hitting duties in the contest. The duo led in both categories trading assists for each other. Kirkwood provided 23 sets for the Lady Wildcat hitters while pounding 23 kills. Chintala followed in both columns with 20 assists and 18 kills.

The Lady Wildcats combined for a serving percentage of 91 with six players rotating to the servers position. Chintala, Kirkwood and Serrato each served two aces. Schaefer served 100 percent on 12 attempts behind the line.

Kirkwood's defense at the net earned her four blocks in the solo category. Junior Maddy Harms, senior Sam Pope and Chintala tallied one solo block apiece.

The second and final contest of the week came on the road against the Weldon Valley Lady Warriors. The two teams met on Fleming's home court in late-August when the Lady Wildcats took the victory with a sweep.

Being on the road made no difference in last week's result as the Lady Wildcats took another three-set win over the Lady Warriors - this time by scores of 26-24, 25-13 and 25-22.

Kirkwood and Chintala again traded roles at the net taking turns assisting each other and hitting. Kirkwood led from both positions with 19 assists and 14 kills. Chintala put up 14 sets while knocking down 13 kills.

Vandenbark added six to the Lady Wildcats' kill column. Serrato and Pope rounded out the total tally with three kills apiece.

Five players put up defensive numbers at the net in blocks. Kirkwood led the group with four total kills split at one solo and three assisted. Harms followed with three blocks; all of those assisted. Chintala added two assisted blocks while Vandenbark and Serrato each earned one assisted block.

Defensive efforts from the back row saw three players with double digit digs. Schaefer led her team with 21 digs. Chintala added 14 while junior Laney Schliesser put up 11.

Schaefer also led on serve receive from her back row position. She completed 22 passes to the Lady Warriors' serves. Chintala followed receiving 14 serves with zero errors.

For the second consecutive contest, the Lady Wildcats made good on 91 percent of their serve attempts. Serrato led the group serving 100 on 18 attempts with four aces. Chintala served 100 percent on 12 attempts with a pair of aces. Kirkwood and Pope added two aces apiece for the night.

The Lady Wildcats visited Haxtun's Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday, Oct. 5. Results of that game had not been determined as of press time, but full coverage will be available in next week's issue of the Herald.

The latter part of the week brings the Briggsdale Lady Falcons to Fleming's court. The two teams are set to meet up for the second match of the season. Briggsdale handed Fleming their first of two losses this season in early-September on the Lady Falcons' home court. They've gone on to advance to a 13-2 overall record with both losses coming at the hands of the Sedgwick County Lady Cougars. The league match-up is set for Friday, Oct. 8 with action beginning at 5:30 p.m.