Lady Wildcats drop to #7; close of regular season approaches

With just a couple weeks and a handful of games remaining the regular season, the Fleming Lady Wildcats now stand in the seventh spot in Colorado High School Activities Association Rankings. Fleming has dropped matches to two of the top six on the list — number-one ranked Merino and third ranked Simla.

Last week’s action added a league sweep over the Prairie Lady Mustangs and a non-league loss to 2A’s second ranked Sedgwick County Lady Cougars.

The week’s play started on Tuesday at New Raymer where the Lady Wildcats swept the Lady Mustangs for the second time this season. The second outing ended with Fleming taking sets one through three, 25-13, 25-11 and 25-11,

As a group, the Lady Wildcats made good on nearly 92 percent of their serves for the contest. Junior Madi Serrato led in aces with six on 18 attempts. Freshman Ciana Lousberg followed with five aces on 15 attempts. Seniors Lexi Schaefer and Maddy Harms and freshman Brooke Schaefer served 100 percent on the night.

Lousberg and senior Kally Kirkwood split setting duties at the net. Lousberg assisted with 19 sets; Kirkwood added another 10.

Kirkwood’s sets combined with her kill tally gave her a double-double for the night. She had 15 kills in the contest off 25 attempts with one error. Serrato followed in the kill category with six kills on 12 attempts.

Lousberg and freshman classmate Ashley Bornhoft played solid defense at the net for the Lady Wildcats. Bornhoft led the squad with three blocks split at two solo and one assisted. Lousberg followed with two blocks split at one and one.

Lousberg and Brooke Schaefer led Fleming’s defensive charge from the back row in digs. Both players put up seven followed by seniors Kirkwood and Laney Schliesser with five apiece.

Schliesser and the Schaefer sisters added top numbers on serve receive. Schliesser put up nine passes. Lexi and Brooke Schaefer followed with eight and seven ups, respectively.

Fleming played a close match last Thursday at the home of the Sedgwick County Lady Cougars. Sedg. Co. held the top spot in 2A for the first seven weeks of the season and fell to number two behind Wiggins just three weeks ago. The Lady Wildcats came within three in the first two sets, 25-22 in both, and fell in set three 25-19 for the match loss.

Kirkwood put 22 kills on the floor in the contest. She currently holds the sixth spot in kills for all classifications in Colorado volleyball with 301 on the season according to stats on MaxPreps. She owned all but three of the team’s total kills against the Lady Cougars last week.

The senior leader also led her team in defensive digs for the night with 13 giving her a double-double. Schliesser followed with nine digs from the back row.

Brooke Schaefer received 63 percent of Sedg. Co.’s serves. She put up 35 serve receives for the night. Schliesser followed with 11.

Harms and freshman Quincy Stull led the Lady Wildcat defense at the net with three blocks apiece. Stull added one solo and two assisted; all of Harms’ were assisted blocks.

Fleming holds the top spot in the North Central League with an undefeated 7-0 record going into the final two weeks of play.

The Lady Wildcats were scheduled to host Holyoke on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Fleming defeated Holyoke in late-August with a sweep.

The team is set to travel on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22. First to the home of the unranked 15-5 Briggsdale Lady Falcons. Fleming and Briggsdale met in late-September. That match resulted in a league victory for the Lady Wildcats. Matches that day are set to begin at 4 p.m. according to MaxPreps.

The final matches of the week are slated to begin at 2 p.m. in Iliff on Saturday at the home of the Caliche Lady Buffaloes. The non-conference, unranked opponent held a 3-12 record to open the 10th week of the season.

Following this week’s play, two games will remain on the regular season schedule. Home contests against Merino and Stratton are slated for next week.