Haxtun volleyball team notches home court wins over WC & Caliche

The Lady Bulldogs notched a win on their home court Friday night with a sweep over the Lady Indians from Wichita County, Kan. The win puts Haxtun at 5-2 on the season and according to Colorado High School Activities Association RPI rankings seventh in the state in 2A action as of Tuesday morning, Sept. 10.

Friday's action put the high school's C team, two junior varsity and varsity teams on the court against the Lady Indians and all of the Lady Bulldogs came out with a win. The varsity took the three-set contest 25-16, 25-11 and 25-20 for a sweep in this season's home opener.

Lady Bulldog Head Coach Don Schelling said his team is always ready to play at home on a Friday night so it didn't take much from him to get his team ready to play, but he reminded them that Wichita County was good and the Lady Bulldogs would need to be ready to go.

"The girls are always excited about home games especially on a Friday night when we have a good crowd!" Schelling said adding his coaching staff has continued to work on increasing the team's side out percentage and tough serving over the past few weeks.

Seniors Maggie Kilgour and Jayleigh Bullard led the Lady Bulldogs at the net in kills, each putting down seven throughout the three-set win. Josie Freeman and Emma Henry both registered five kills followed by Bobbi Starkebaum with four and Emma Lemesany with three. Starkebaum denied four Lady Indian kill attempts to earn Haxtun's team high of four blocks on the night. Bullard and Freeman each tallied two blocks followed by Emma Lemesany and Kilgour, each having one.

Emily Anderson, Starkebaum, Kilgour and Rozi Crossland all served perfectly on Friday, going 100 percent from behind the line. Lilly Lemesany led her team with six aces. Kelsie Hadeen and Kilgour each registered three aces followed by Anderson and Starkebaum, both adding two.

In the back row, defensive specialist Lilly Lemesany registered seven digs. She also had 12 passes on serve receive. Anderson had 14 passes on serve receive, the team high.

Setters Hadeen and Starkebaum evened out for the night, both contributing 13 assists to their hitters.

"I felt like we served tough and had them out of system a lot. I think we passed and set really well Friday night," Schelling said of his team's first performance at home.

The Lady Bulldogs hosted Caliche at home on Tuesday night where they picked up a four-set win over the Buffs. That puts Haxtun at 6-2 on the season. Stats for that contest were not yet available as of press time.

Next the team will travel to Wiggins for a match up with the Lady Tigers on Tuesday, Sept. 17 before returning home for a contest with Crowley County on Sept. 21.

"We just need to continue to focus on tough serves and work more on our blocking and defense," said Schelling.