Lady Bulldogs open at annual Sedgwick County Tourney Saturday

After nine months of off season work the Haxtun Lady Bulldogs return to the volleyball court. The team took the court this past Saturday in the annual Sedgwick County tournament were they faced off against Sedgwick County and Briggsdale to kick off the 2024 season.

Six seniors top the list of the 31-member roster this year. The varsity line up brings back six with starting experience. Head Coach Don Schelling said his varsity team attended a camp in western Colorado over the summer and later the entire team competed in a three day camp in Ogallala, Neb. The Lady Bulldogs also spent three days a week in the weight room over the summer in addition to playing in summer league games throughout June.

Aug. 12 marked the first official day of practice per Colorado High School Activities Association guidelines and since that day, Schelling said his team has focused on rotations, conditioning, serve receive and passing.

"We are really concentrating on our serve receive and defense in every rotation," he said.

Haxtun took the court against Briggsdale first in Julesburg on Saturday, taking the Falcons to five sets. Briggsdale took set one but the Bulldogs answered back with a second set win. The third pushed the scoreboard all the way to 30 before the Falcons took a 30-28 win. Haxtun won the fourth to send it to a fifth but a close final 15-11 set five gave the Falcons the victory.

Senior Jayleigh Bullard led the Lady Bulldogs at the net with 14 kills. Bobbi Starkebaum, also a senior, trailed with 13. The two also led the team in blocks; Starkebaum with six and Bullard with three.

Rozi Crossland and Josi Freeman both served 100 percent against the Falcons. Senior Kelsie Hadeen racked up six aces in the contest. Emily Anderson added four followed by Bullard with two.

Lilly Lemesany registered 15 digs in the back row followed by Hadeen with 11 and Anderson with 10.

Setters Hadeen and Starkebaum combined for a total of 41 sets in the five sets against Briggsdale. Hadeen registered 26 followed by Starkebaum with 15.

Short turn-around time put the Lady Bulldogs back on the court, this time against the home town Lady Cougars. Haxtun fell in three to Sedgwick County.

Bullard led her team in kills for the second time in the tournament, this time with seven kills. Maggie Kilgour put down six followed by Starkebaum with five. Bullard, Freeman and Starkebaum each registered a single block.

Anderson, Kilgour and Crossland went 100 percent from behind the service line while Lemesany and Hadeen each registered two aces.

Kilgour tallied 10 digs in the back row, Lemesany and Hadeen each had nine and Bullard dug up six.

Starkebaum notched nine sets followed by Hadeen with seven.

Despite an 0-2 start, Schelling said there were things he saw his team do well on the court last weekend.

"I think we had our moments of playing great volleyball but struggled in other moments," he said. "We just need to keep working on playing together as a team and getting through the momentum shifts while also trying to limit our service errors."

This week the Lady Bulldogs were set to face off with Holyoke at the home of the Lady Dragons on Thursday evening and then Saturday travel to compete in tournament play at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling.

Haxtun will first face Otis at 10:30 a.m. followed by a match up with Dayspring Christian at 1:30 p.m. Depending on the outcoming of games one and two, the team will advance to play later in the day at either 3 p.m. or 4:30 p.m.

"One of our main goals is to get one percent better every day. We are concentrating on increasing our side out percentage each game and to limit our unforced errors," Schelling said.