LADY BUFFS VOLLEYBALL: Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020
The Lady Buffs volleyball team was back on the road Tuesday with a quick turnaround from its season-opening tournament on Saturday in Newton.
This time, coach Trista Bailey’s squad headed to Maize South to face another one of the top Class 5A programs as well as a repeat match with Newton.
While showing significant improvement in their overall play, the Lady Buffs came up short in the final match results, falling to Maize South in straight sets (22-25, 16-25) and then dropping a three-set heart-breaker to Newton (16-25, 25-15, 25-27).
The pair of losses dropped the Lady Buffs early-season record to 1-5. They will host Great Bend and Liberal, a pair of WAC opponents, on Thursday at The Garden. First serve is at 4 p.m.
“We saw a ton of improvement between Saturday and tonight (Tuesday),” Bailey said. “We made some adjustments in our serve-receive combinations and really focused more on our defensive effort.”
As a result, Bailey said the team got more touches with blocks, more digs and more hustle plays from the players.
“Our setters also made some better decisions tonight,” Bailey said. “We spent time on Monday dissecting where our hitters are in each rotation and in each serve-receive and discussed how we can use our strengths more effectively. I think we are all really encouraged by how we competed tonight.”
Abby Parr had 27 assists in the two matches to lead the Lady Buffs in that category. McKenna Jagels led with 13 kills and Julie Calzonetti added 11. Mya Cruz and Mya DelaCruz had 22 and 19 assists, respectively.
Garden City High School 