Wildcat Volleyball Season comes to an end
by Jeff Hennick and Taylor Elder
October 25, 2007
Last Tuesday was the start of post
season volleyball for the WCHS Wildcats. They came in seeded third
and started off playing Tribune to advance their season. The girls
were on top of their game and they quickly beat Tribune in two
games.
Next up on the list was Healy. Still fired
up from the first game and determined to keep their season running,
they rolled the Eagles in their first game winning 25-14. During
the second game, the girls had a little bit of a mental break down
and they ended up losing and had to take it into a third game. This
game decided who moved on to the championship game. The players
struggled a little in the second game against the Eagles and knew
that they had to pick it up in order to keep their season alive.
The Cats got off to an early lead and put the Eagles away, 25-16,
to advance to the championship game where they faced their county
rival Weskan for the seventh time this season.
Unfortunately for the Cats, all of the
previous matches were won by Weskan. However, they were determined
to take this game from Weskan. They came out with great intensity
and immediately gained control of the game. With the momentum in
their direction, the Cats continued their attack on the Coyotes
until sophomore Gabrielle Kuhlman was taken out early in the first
game with a sprained ankle. After the incident, the Wildcats
started to lose that momentum and Weskan came storming back to tie
the game at 9-9, and eventually take the lead with a score of 12-9.
Nevertheless, that is all the bigger Weskan’s lead got to and the
Cats took the game and stretched their lead, which forced Weskan to
call a couple of time outs. The first game came to an end at 16-25
in favor of the Cats.
The second game started with the Cats still
excited from their win in the first game. However, Weskan knew they
had to pick it up in the second game and they started out strong
with a 3-0 lead before the Cats came back and tied the game at 3-3.
The Cats continued their run and quickly found themselves on top
4-8. The game stayed close the rest of the way with each team
exchanging momentum and outstanding spikes. There were many ties
and lead changes until Weskan finally ended this game 25-23 with a
spike that landed behind the Wildcat’s coverage.
The third game started out strong for the
Cats as they got off to a 3-0 lead after a serving error on Weskan
and two spikes from Kuhlman and Kamee Benisch. After this, Weskan
came storming back once again to tie the game at 3-3. It remained
close until Weskan gained momentum the Cats couldn’t find. The
Wildcats kept giving effort, but it just was not enough and Weskan
won the game 25-18. However, by placing second in the tournament,
the Wildcats advanced to the sub-state games in Ransom, Kan., on
Saturday.
Saturday morning the volleyball girls met
at the school early to have breakfast before they made their long
trip to Ransom for sub-state volleyball action. The girls were
plagued by sickness throughout most of the week but still played
through it.Going into the game, setter Lauren Elder hoped, “We
would come in focused and be ready to upset Wheatland.”
The Lady Wildcats came out excited for
their sub-state game against Wheatland, and started off playing
with great energy, but a few costly mistakes put them in a hole
early. The Cats kept fighting but it seemed like every time the
Cats would start to make a run, the Thunderhawks would rally back
to keep their lead. The girls ended up losing both games 18-25 and
14-25, a sad end to a great season for the Lady Cats.
Senior Chricket Short commented, “We wish
that we could’ve gone deeper into post season play, but we were
pleased with the way that we grew as a team through out the
season.”
