Buffs Roundup: Friday/Saturday, Oct. 4-5, 2019
It was a busy Friday-Saturday weekend for the GCHS Buffaloes athletic teams as the football team went to Liberal and posted a 26-12 WAC victory over the Redskins; the girls and boys cross country teams participated in the Doherty Spartan Invite at Colorado Springs, Colo., the girls volleyball team was the 6-team Lawrence Invitational and the girls tennis team competed at the McPherson Invitational.
VOLLEYBALL
Facing their toughest test of the season on Saturday, the No. 4-ranked Class 6A Lady Buffaloes volleyball team posted a solid 3-2 record at the Lawrence Invitational.
The round-robin tourney was comprised of five eastern Kansas opponents, including No. 1-ranked Class 6A Blue Valley.
In their opening match of the day, the Lady Buffs came up short in a 25-19, 25-22 setback to Blue Valley West before capturing a straight set match against defending 6A state champion Lawrence High, 25-17, 25-18. They then were impressive in a 25-16, 25-12 victory over Olathe Northwest before taking on the top-ranked Blue Valley team, falling in straight sets, 25-21, 25-12.
Their final match of the day came against Manhattan, and the Lady Buffs prevailed 25-18, 25-20 to complete the day with a 3-2 record and improving their season mark to 19-3. Their only other loss of the season came against unbeaten and Class 5A-ranked Maize South on Thursday at the Wichita Heights Quadrangular.
In the 5-match tourney, Reagan Karlin paced the Lady Buffs in two categories – recording 12 aces and 40 kills. Julie Calzonetti was next with 17 kills. Remi Vargas had 85 assists in the five matches while Kelbi Richter and Vargas paced the Digs category with 52 and 34, respectively.
The Lady Buffs will host a triangular on Thursday, Oct. 10, with WAC rival Dodge City and non-league Ulysses providing the opposition with first serve to begin at 4 p.m. at The Garden. On Saturday, Oct. 12, the Buffs will travel to another tough one-day tournament, the McPherson TheInvitational.
They will host the Western Athletic Conference tournament on Oct. 19 in the five-team, round-robin event in which they have won the last eight league titles.
CROSS COUNTRY
Freshman Jocelyn Sosa finished in fifth place individually on Friday, Oct. 4, at the Doherty Spartan Invitational in Colorado Springs.
Her time in the 5-kilometer race was 21:02.20 and that paved the way for the Lady Buffs to finish in fifth place as a team in the 11-team event, which was held at the Bear Creek Regional Park. The Lady Buffs totaled 120 points against a field comprised mostly of Colorado schools.
Kaety Kohlhorst placed 21st with a time of 23:04.69 while Andrea Hernandez took 35th place with a mark of 23:47.04. Following were Anna Lobmeyer (38th, 23:56.98), Ana Casados (47th, 24:27.23), and Destiny Avila (57th, 25:20.36).
On the boys side, team scores were incomplete as nine runners’ placings were not accounted for, including Brody Hoff.
Devin Chappel was 26th (18:52.26), Austin Hess 33rd (19:07.52), Kenji Craig 42nd (19:28.31), Emilio Arteaga 59th (20:22.64) and Jeremy Garcia 72nd (21:02.58).
The Buffs’ teams will travel on Sat., Oct. 12 to the El Dorado Invitational before heading to Hays on Oct. 17 for the Western Athletic Conference championship.
GIRLS TENNIS
Garden City High School’s girls tennis team competed at the always-tough McPherson Invitational on Sat., Oct. 5, where the singles players and doubles teams are all placed into a single bracket in their respective divisions.
Playing without Carson Linenberger, the team’s No. 1 singles player, the Lady Buffs finished in sixth place out of 10 competing teams with 32 points.
Sage Riggs placed ninth despite going 3-1 in the tournament, falling in her opening match and then working her way through the consolation bracket with three straight victories. She lost to Hutchinson (8-5) before toppling players from Liberal (8-1), McPherson White (8-1) and McPherson White (8-3). Sydney Nanninga, subbing in for Linenberger, was 18th with a 1-3 record. She earned an 8-4 win over Hays for her lone triumph while falling to players from Salina South (6-2), McPherson White (8-0) and Liberal (8-2).
In doubles action, the team of Hannah Kipp and Carole Garcia took eighth with a 2-2 record. They beat teams from Salina South (8-4) and McPherson White (score n/a/) but dropped matches to McPherson Red (8-7, 6 tiebreaker) and Great Bend (8-3).
Ashleigh Chappel and Brooke Ptacek placed ninth and posted a 4-1 record. After dropping their opening match against McPherson Red (8-5), the Lady Buffs’ duo beat Liberal (8-1), Salina South (8-7, 4 tiebreak), Great Bend (8-5) and Hutchinson (8-5).
The Lady Buffs were in Great Bend on Monday, Oct. 7, to defend their Western Athletic Conference championship from 2018. Those results will be available on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
They will then host the Class 6A regional tournament on Sat., Oct. 12, at the GCHS Tennis Complex. Teams competing include Dodge City, Haysville-Campus, Hutchinson, Liberal, Wichita North, Wichita South and Wichita West. The top six finishers in singles and in doubles will advance to the state tournament on Oct. 18-19 at the Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka.
Garden City High School 