Haxtun falls in five to neighboring Lady Dragons

The Haxtun Lady Bulldogs came back from a two-set deficit to take the Lady Dragons from Holyoke to five sets on the road Friday night. Despite a loss in the contest against the neighboring Lady Dragons, the Bulldog team battled and their head coach, Don Schelling, is proud of that.

"I was proud of how they fought after being down two sets," he said. "They continued to fight and were able to win sets three and four. We kind of got off to a slow start right from the beginning of the game but never gave up and continued to play for each other. What I am most proud of was them not giving up."

Haxtun lost sets one and two, 25-15 and 25-16, but took sets three and four, 25-23, both sets. The fifth and final came down to a three point spread, ultimately going to the Lady Dragons, 15-12. The loss puts the Lady Bulldogs at 4-4 three weeks into the 2022 season.

Three Lady Bulldogs earned double-digits in the kill department. Junior Megan Walker put down 12, the team high, followed by sophomore Bobbi Starkebaum with 11 and junior Cassidy Goddard with 10.

Starkebaum led defensively at the net with two solo blocks. Walker added one.

As a team, Haxtun's service department was solid, serving over 90 percent for the night. Senior Grace Gibson sent over three aces in the five set win followed by Walker with two aces and Emily Anderson with one.

In the back row, Anderson led in digs with 15; she also registered eight passes on serve receive. Goddard tallied 15 digs followed by Walker with 12 and junior Julia Freeman with 11. Freeman led on serve receive with 24 successful passes. Walker and Gibson each registered 23 passes followed by Maggie Kilgour with 15.

This week the Lady Bulldogs have one game on the schedule. The team was set to travel take on Prairie on Tuesday afternoon for a 1A match up. The following Tuesday, Sept. 13, the team will travel again, this time to take on the top ranked 2A Wiggins Tigers.

Over the next few weeks, Schelling said his team will focus on basics.

"We will be focusing on defense and serve receive like we always do but also work on closing our blocks to help our back row players out," he said. "We are going to just keep working hard and trying to improve each day."