CLASS 1A VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW – WEEKEND
BY: KERRY SHERMAN
The last few weeks have been filled with incredible match-ups for the top-10 teams in the MHPR rankings, and this weekend sees the trend continue. Only top-ranked Simla has the weekend off, and the Lady Cubs have earned some down time. Highlighting the weekend slate is a loaded field in the Akron tournament on Saturday. All records were going into play on Thursday.
FRIDAY
#3 SARGENT (9-0) AT 2A DEL NORTE (9-2)
Sargent stayed unbeaten with Tuesday’s sweep of 2A Monte Vista. Kandace Pargin had 19 kills, while Monte Vista tallied 15 as a team. She also had five aces, two blocks, and six digs. Kimberly Pargin tallied six kills, six aces, and six digs, and Audrina Knorr also recorded six digs. Aubree Ullery recorded 30 assists. Del Norte has been off for almost two weeks since sweeping Custer County. That was the fourth straight win for the Lady Tigers, the last three all going 3-0. Sargent holds an 18-11 edge in the series going back to 2009, but Del Norte picked up a five-set victory last year.
#6 PRAIRIE (8-2) VS FLEMING (2-9)
Prairie dropped the first set against Peetz on Tuesday, but the Lady Mustangs responded by winning the next three to take the match in four. That completed a 4-0 run through the North Central. Prairie opens the second go-round in league play with the match against Fleming. Hannah Kugler had another big outing in the win on Tuesday, putting together 23 kills, six total blocks, and 13 digs. Macie Jaeger tallied 15 kills, and the Lady Mustangs got 38 assists from Molly Walker. Kali Sutter led the team with 20 digs, and Shaylee Dolan added 13. Fleming finished its first time through the league on Thursday, as the Lady Wildcats visited Briggsdale. They went into that match having dropped a five-setter to Lone Star earlier in the week. Prairie beat Fleming in four sets earlier in the season, marking the first win for the program against the Lady Wildcats since 2015, and it was just the second in the last 52 meetings. Kugler (16) and Jaeger (15) combined for 31 kills in the win, and Walker tallied 37 assists. Hayden Cochran and Hadley Stull had 10 kills apiece for Fleming, and Cochran added six blocks and 12 digs.
#7 GRANADA (8-1) VS WILEY (8-5)
Granada bounced back from its first loss of the season to #5 Cheraw last Friday to hand #10 Hi-Plains a five-set loss on Tuesday. The Lady Bobcats trailed 2-1, but won the last two sets 25-23 and 15-8 to snatch the victory away from their guests. Camryn Coleman turned in a triple-double with 24 kills, 11 total blocks (10 solo), and 17 digs. Dayzriana Quintana added 13 kills, six total blocks, and 17 digs. Leila Pizarro led the team with 18 digs, and Kinsley Williams tacked on 13 to go with 37 assists. Wiley got its second straight win, beating Springfield in four on Tuesday. None of the sets had a margin greater than five points, and three were decided by three points or fewer. Wiley had dominated the series with Granada winning 20 of 21 matches prior to the Lady Bobcats taking victories in sweeps the last two seasons.
#8 CALICHE (8-5) VS PEETZ (4-7)
Caliche dropped its second match in a row on Tuesday, as the Lady Buffs were swept at 2A Yuma. That came on the heels of a four-set loss at Prairie last Saturday. After falling 17-25 in the first set against Yuma, Caliche came up short 25-27 and 23-25 in the next two. Faye Lueck was the only player for the Lady Buffs to reach double digits in kills, finishing with 10. She also had 12 digs. Ellie Willis tallied eight kills. Hayden Walker led with 24 digs, and Alexis Breidenbach followed with 17. Lily Armstrong (14) and Aniston Marostica (11) combined for 25 assists. The four-set loss to Prairie on Tuesday was the second straight defeat for Peetz, as the Lady Bulldogs also lost to Briggsdale in five last Friday. Caliche has won 29 of 30 meetings with the Lady Bulldogs since 2007, including a current winning streak of 11.
#9 FLAGLER (8-4) AT DEER TRAIL (2-8)
Flagler carried a four-match winning streak into Thursday’s Union Pacific showdown with 2A Limon. The Lady Panthers won their first league contest in five sets over 2A Byers on Tuesday. They led 2-0, but had to pull out a 15-12 fifth set to avoid letting the win slip away. This will be the third straight league match for the Lady Panthers. Deer Trail’s losing streak reached four with a sweep loss to Elbert on last Saturday. All four were sweeps. The Lady Eagles only had 11 kills as a team against Elbert, four by Fatuma Hussein, and three apiece by Kyann Kitzman and Vailini Samate. Hussein recorded 27 digs, and Ruby Ramirez-DeLaCruz added 23. Flagler has controlled the series with Deer Trail, winning 26 of 27 in the MaxPreps era. The lone win by the Lady Eagles came in 2021. Flagler’s won nine straight since then, and got a pair of sweeps last year.
#10 HI-PLAINS (7-2) AT GENOA-HUGO/KARVAL (1-10)
The five-set loss to Granada was the second in three matches for Hi-Plains. The Lady Patriots held a 2-1 lead, but could not finish off the victory. Hi-Plains had a strong attack, getting 20 kills from Brianna Rueb, 15 from Cambria Seaman, and 10 from Taylor Hartman. Seaman and Hartman also had four aces apiece. On the back line, Seaman and Maggie Gorton finished with 17 digs apiece, and Hartman added 14. Addison Richards guided the attack with 38 assists. Genoa-Hugo/Karval lost its fourth consecutive match on Tuesday, falling to 2A #8 Evangel Christian in three sets. Rylee Corn led with eight kills, and Lexi James tallied 11 assists. Savannah Acerbi topped the defense with nine digs. The Lady Pirates traveled to Kiowa on Thursday. Hi-Plains holds a 13-8 series lead, including four straight wins. Two of those came in sweeps last year.
SATURDAY
#2 SWINK (9-0) VS #10 HI-PLAINS
The last two outings for Swink have been white-knucklers, as the Lady Lions beat McClave last Friday, and #5 Cheraw on Tuesday, both in five sets. Daisy Heberlie put down 26 kills, and Emma Gacnik added 22 in the win on Tuesday. Kashlyn Blasingame recorded a season-high 50 assists. Larriana Taggart led the team with 30 digs, and Gacnik and Heberlie registered 26 and 20, respectively. This will be the first meeting between Swink and Hi-Plains in the MaxPreps era.
#3 SARGENT AT CENTENNIAL (4-3)
This will be the first action for Centennial in two weeks, and it’s the Southern Peaks opener for the Lady Rams. They’ll be looking to build upon a two-match winning streak, as they beat both Cripple Creek-Victor and Mountain Valley back on the 12th of the month. Both of those were in four sets. Sargent has won all three meetings with Centennial, including sweeps in each of the last two years. The teams had not played since 2007 before starting up two years ago.
#5 CHERAW (8-2) VS WALSH (1-8)
Following the loss to Swink in five, Cheraw looked to get back into the win column on Thursday with another High Plains league match against Kit Carson. Going back to the match against Swink, Bristyl Barratt led a high-powered attack with 20 kills, and the duo of Tristyn White and Tinley Leake had 13 apiece. Defensively, White registered 24 digs and four total blocks. Rylee Wyckoff led in the latter of those two categories with five total blocks. Emi-Lee Marquez popped for 22 digs, and Raimy Sisson recorded 33 assists. Walsh finds itself in a nasty stretch, as the Lady Eagles have lost their last five contests. The most recent defeat came on the road at Moscow (KS) in two sets on Monday. They only put away two kills in that match, one apiece by Ally Caddick and River Loader. Loader also had two aces. Caddick and Madilyn Tedder shared the team lead with five digs apiece. With six straight wins, all in sweeps, Cheraw owns a slim 8-7 lead in the series with Walsh.
AKRON TOURNAMENT
Six teams will compete in the Akron Tournament, with two three-team pools. One pool includes #7 Granada, 2A Akron, and 2A Custer County. The other will have #4 McClave, Otis, and 2A #8 ECA. After pool play, they will cross, with the 1s competing for first place,the 2s going for third, and the 3s fighting it out for fifth.
MONDAY
#7 GRANADA AT WESKAN, KS (4-12-3)
Granada caps a busy stretch by crossing the state line to tangle with the Lady Coyotes of Weskan, who lost two matches on Monday. Those were to Oakley and Wallace County. They also had two on Tuesday against Northern Valley and Heartland Christian, but those results had not been reported. While Kansas typically plays best two out of three, this will be best of five. It’s the first match between the two since 2016, which is Granada’s only win in fourth previous matches.
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