What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
HAXTUN LIBERO Lilly Lemesany gets low and to the ball in the back row in a contest on Saturday. The junior defensive specialist registered 56 digs on the day.
LADY BULLDOG Maggie Kilgour, senior #18, reaches for a ball at Northeastern Junior College. The senior had 52 digs and 38 passes on serve receive.
SENIOR JAYLEIGH Bullard and junior Emma Henry go up for a block against Otis in opening play at NJC on Saturday.
The Haxtun Lady Bulldogs may have had a slow 0-2 start in their first outing this season but they came back with a vengeance, picking up four wins on the road last week.
The Bulldogs took down Holyoke on Thursday and later defeated Otis, Dayspring Christian Academy and Arickaree in tournament play at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling on Saturday. The 4-0 week puts the team at 4-2 on the season as the Lady Bulldogs prepare for their home opener against Wichita County on Friday.
Haxtun traveled for junior high and high school matches in Holyoke on Thursday for an evening full of volleyball action from c-teams and varsity at both levels. The Lady Bulldog varsity team found themselves down two sets against the Lady Dragons falling 26-24 in set one and 25-21 in set two. Something sparked after that second set and the fire burned inside the Lady Bulldogs as they rolled onto win the next three 25-22, 25-17 and 15-9 for the win on the Lady Dragons home court. The win marked the first this season for Haxtun.
At the net, senior Maggie Kilgour put 18 balls on the floor to led her team in kills. Bobbi Starkebaum added 13 followed by junior Josie Freeman with 11, Jayleigh Bullard with nine and Emma Henry with eight.
Bullard registered two blocks followed by Kilgour with one.
Behind the service line, Emily Anderson earned a 92.8 percent service rating, the team high, and sent over one ace. Lilly Lemesany led in aces with a total of four. Starkebaum and Bullard each registered two aces.
On serve receive, Kilgour tallied 26 passes followed by Lemesany and Anderson, each with 20. On defense in the back row, Lemesany totaled 16 digs as the team's libero.
Both Lady Bulldog setters, Kelsie Hadeen and Starkebaum added 25 assists on the night for a combined 50 throughout the five set win.
On Saturday Haxtun picked up a four set win over Otis to kick off tournament play at NJC Saturday morning. The Bulldogs from Haxtun won sets one and two, 25-24 and 25-18, fell in the third, 25-11, but rallied for a four set, game winning 30-28 victory.
The following contest put the Lady Bulldogs on the floor against Dayspring Christian Academy where they again picked up a four set win. Haxtun lost the first, 25-12, but took two through four, 25-15, 25-20 and 25-10.
The third and final match of the day pitted Haxtun against the Lady Bison from Arickaree. That game went to the Lady Bulldogs in three, 25-13, 25-10 and 25-13.
"I think just being determined," said Lady Bulldog Head Coach Don Schelling when asked what clicked for his team this week. "We worked on different serve receive rotations that we used as soon as we gave up a couple points, which gives the other team a different look. That worked really well Saturday. Our serve receive and defense was a lot better this week, which allowed our setters and hitters to connect better! We also had some tough serving that got us a lot of momentum."
Schelling said his team also limited unforced errors throughout the four contests, which made a big difference. He added that of the four sets the team lost out of a total 16 played, each were due to errors made by the Lady Bulldogs.
"We need to continue to concentrate on our defense and closing our blocks!" Schelling added.
In the service department, Bullard racked up 15 aces at the NJC tournament on Saturday in addition earning an overall 90.9 serving percentage. Lemesany tallied nine aces throughout the day followed by Kilgour with four, Starkebaum with three and Hadeen with two.
Starkebaum led at the net with 31 kills for the day. Bullard trailed close behind with 30, Kilgour put down 23 and Freeman added 16. Starkebaum also registered 12 total blocks in the team's three wins.
In the back row, Lemesany tallied 68 passes on serve receive and 56 digs on defense. Kilgour had 38 successful passes on serve receive and 52 digs. Anderson had 34 passes in the back row while Hadeen picked up 36 digs.
In the setters position, Hadeen led with 53 assists followed by Starkebaum with 42 and Lemesany with 10.
This week Haxtun is set to host the season's home opener on Friday, Sept. 6 against Wichita County, Kan. To continue to be successful, Schelling said his players need to keep focusing on playing together and for each other.
"We also need to focus on our blocking and make sure we're closing our block and to continue to play tough defense and just be gritty!"
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