The No. 2 state-ranked McClave Lady Cardinals volleyball team rolled to a pair of victories against Sedgwick County and Idalia over the weekend.
McClave swept Sedgwick County by the set scores of 25-18, 25-14, and 25-12 on Friday, Sept. 4 in McClave.
The loss was the first for the visiting Cougars after posting four victories.
McClave senior Avery Hemphill had a stellar performance with 11 kills, 5 aces, 10 digs, and 3 assisted blocks.
Addison Vallejos contributed 2 kills, 1 ace, 6 digs, 3 solo blocks, and 2 assisted blocks
Yesenia Alamanza added 19 assists, 5 kills, 2 aces, 9 digs, and 1 solo block.
Myla Oquist recorded 7 kills and 4 assisted blocks.
Kashlee Randel had 2 aces and 5 digs.
Madeline VanDyke contributed 4 digs and 2 assisted blocks
Blaire Howe, a freshman, had a big match as she chipped in with 8 kills, 1 ace, 11 digs, 3 solo and 3 assisted blocks.
The next day, the Lady Cardinals loaded the bus for a road trip to face the Idalia Wolves on Saturday, Sept. 5.
McClave downed Idalia in three straight sets 25-19, 25-17, and 25-6.
With the loss, Idalia dropped to 3-4 in the season.
Hemphill again paved the way for the Lady Cardinals with 14 kills, 2 aces, 15 digs, 2 solo blocks and 1 assisted block
Vallejos finished with 3 kills, 8 digs, 1 solo block and 6 assisted blocks
Almanza had 30 assists, 2 kills, 1 ace, and 11 digs.
Oquist had 3 kills and 8 aces.
Randel had 1 ace and 13 digs.
VanDyke had 1 dig and 5 assisted blocks.
Howe contributed 9 kills, 1 ace, and 10 digs.
McClave head coach Melissa Steinbrunn was pleased with how her team showed up ready to play for both matches.
“We had a great weekend for McClave volleyball first with Sedgwick County and then on the road against Idalia,” she said. “Both teams are strong and poised to have great seasons, so walking away with those wins was big for us.”
“SedgwickCounty has been a long-time powerhouse in 2A,” she said. “This is a disciplined team who is no stranger to playing for state championships, so adding them to our schedule this year was a great opportunity to push our girls.”
“We have specific things that we are working on and are always looking for ways to improve each match,” Steinbrunn explained. “We have really tried to push our serving game forward and have challenged ourselves to serve aggressively while still being strategic and limiting errors. We want to keep teams out of system as much as possible, and we did a good of this over the weekend.”
McClave had 11 aces against Sedgwick and another 13 in the Idalia game.
Steinbrunn noted that Myla Oquist came up huge at the service line against Idalia.
“Myla went on a major serving streak and delivered eight aces for the match,” praised Steinbrunn.
“We also spend a lot of time through the season working on our net defense,” Steinbrunn continued. “Addison Vallejos has learned to shine in this area. She does an excellent job of reading hitters and getting her hands on the ball to help our backcourt defense. She has really stepped up for us in this area.”
Steinbrunn said the Idalia match also marked another major milestone.
“Avery Hemphill joined our Gold Ball Club last season with 1,000 digs, and she reached another level by recording her 1,000th career kill in this match.
“She is an outstanding athlete, and we were proud and excited to see her reach that achievement. She finished the weekend with 11 kills against Sedgwick County and 14 more against Idalia.”
McClave is now 4-2 overall and riding a three-match winning streak.
Next on the schedule for the Lady Cardinals will be a High Plains League match with Cheyenne Wells on Thursday, Sept. 10 at The Nest.
McClave then travels for a non-conference match at Stratton on Friday, Sept. 11.
In closing, Steinbrunn said, “I am pleased with the direction that this team is headed. We have several competitive opponents headed our way, so it will be imperative to get back in the gym this week to iron out weakness that we saw over the weekend. We have five matches over the next two weeks, so we’ll need to use every available day to prepare wisely.”
Granada Bobcats
The Granada Lady Bobcats, who moved to #1 in the state rankings by Colorado Preps, continued their winning ways.
The Lady Bobcats moved their record to 4-0 overall following a three-set road victory over the Burlington Lady Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 5.
The set scores were 25-20, 25-11, and 25-9.
No Granada statistics were available on MaxPreps.
This week, Granada will host Las Animas in a non-league match on Thursday, Sept. 10.
Holly Bobcats
The Lady Bobcats will then visit Manzanola on Friday, Sept. 11.
The Holly Lady Wildcats volleyball team competed in the two-day Springfield Lady Longhorns Stampede held on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 4-5.
Holly finished the tournament with a 3-2 record.
On Friday, Holly played three matches against Kim/Branson, Sargent, and Walsh.
The Lady Wildcats walked away with a 2-0 victory over the Kim/Branson Mustangs; lost to Sargent, 2-1; and beat Walsh, 2-0.
Holly’s two matches on Saturday were against Springfield and South Baca.
The Lady Wildcats got past Springfield, 2-1
Holly dropped the first set 27-29 to the Lady Longhorns but turned around to win the next two with set scores of 25-21, 15-13.
Holly came up short against South Baca and fell 2-0 by the identical scores of 25-20 and 25-20.
The loss dropped Holly’s overall record to 5-4.
The Lady Wildcats will welcome Las Animas in a non-league match on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
The Wiley Lady Panthers have been on a roll and won their last four matches.
Wiley defeated Genoa-Hugo/Karval, 3-0, on Aug. 28.
The Lady Panthers then notched another sweep against La Veta on Sept. 4.
Wiley then won two matches against two Arkansas Valley League opponents at the Springfield Lady Longhorns Stampede on Saturday, Sept. 5.
The Lady Panthers beat Walsh, 2-0, by the scores of 25-7 and 25-10.
Wiley then took care of Kim/Branson by the scores of 25-6 and 25-11.
This week, Wiley (6-3) will host Eads (3-3) on Sept. 11.
