Ark Valley News - Hornets stumble, lose league triangular

Hornets stumble, lose league triangular
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: September 06, 2018

After playing well in sweeping its first triangular of the season, the Valley Center High School volleyball team did an about-face in its second. After winning their first three, three-set matches of the year, the Hornets dropped a pair of three-set matches Sept. 4 to Eisenhower and Goddard.

Valley is now 6-4 overall and 1-2 in Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League II matches.

As one would expect, coach Melissa Segovia wasn't all smiles afterward as she had been the previous week. But she wasn't frowning, either, in evaluating Valley's play.

"We weren't able to string together points like we wanted to do. That's been our goal throughout the season," she said. "Maybe just not staying as focused, a few more unforced errors than we had seen."

Both matches looked similar, as Valley won the first set in each but couldn't sustain its momentum.

"I think again (that was) just focusing on individual points and at times, over-trying just a little bit to make things happen instead of just let things happen," Segovia said.

The match against Eisenhower was tied six times before the Hornets distanced themselves from the Tigers. Eisenhower led 8-6 when Valley reeled off six straight to take the lead for good. Four of those points were aces from Ellie Shank, as the Hornets went up 12-8.

Three times Valley Center built a seven-point lead. Leading 21-18, two kills from Shank and a stuff by Kristin Coon made it 24-18. An Eisenhower attack error accounted for the winning point.

The Hornets' only lead in the second set was 4-3. Eisenhower hit them with a 7-0 run to take control. Valley stayed close, trailing 14-11, before the Tigers extended their advantage to nine, 20-11. Three times Eisenhower led by 10 and won by eight, 25-17.

The third set was tied at 4 before the Tigers went on top for good. Their lead peaked at eight, 23-15, as they posted a 25-19 victory.

Against Goddard, the Hornets started out much like they had done against Eisenhower. An ace from Kait McDonald tied the set at 4. Kills by Shank and Carlie Claussen put Valley up.

The Tigers' only lead late was at 19-18. It was back-and-forth the rest of the way as the lead changed hands four times down the stretch. Valley trailed 22-21 when Claussen put one down to deadlock things. Shank and McDonald combined for a block point and a 23-22 lead.

After Eisenhower tied it at 23-all, kills by Shank and Kylee Dawson put this one away for the Hornets.

Valley led 2-0 in the second set but not for long. Goddard came back to take a 4-2 lead and never trailed. The Lions equaled their largest lead, seven points, at 18-11 when Valley made a move.

A kill on a quick set by McDonald, a block point by Shank, two aces from Chaeli Keenan, and another kill by Shank during a rally kept alive by an Emily Kemp dig pulled the Hornets to within two, 18-16. They still trailed by two, 20-18, when the Lions pulled away to win 25-19.

Goddard took a 6-2 lead in the deciding third set before Valley Center tied the score at 7.

The Lions again pulled away, building an 18-12 lead. Two Goddard errors were followed by a pair of kills from Shank. Claussen rifled in an ace as the Hornets got to within one, 18-17. They pulled to within one twice more but never closer as Eisenhower held on for a 25-23 win.

When asked about improvement from last week, Segovia opened with "Oh, wow!"

"I'm seeing players make plays, balls that they haven't ever seen before coming at them and making plays on them," she added. "Just very, very impressed with that.

JV splits — The Hornet junior varsity lost to Eisenhower 25-21, 20-25, 12-25 as Kambry Kirk had 11 kills.

Valley swept Goddard by identical scores of 25-13. Kelsey Brunton had four kills and Heidi Meyer three. Tanza Holmes served up eight aces with one serving error and put in 94.7 percent of her serves. Valley is now 2-2 on the season.

C team falters — The Hornet lost Aug. 30 to Goddard (20-25, 22-25), Ark City (19-25, 17-25) and Eisenhower (11-25, 11-25) and are now 0-6.