VOLLEYBALL: Friday, Oct. 2, 2020
Trista Bailey knew that her Lady Buffs volleyball team was improving as the 2020 season progressed through the month of September.
After starting out 1-5 with virtually an entire new starting lineup, the Lady Buffs had gone 8-2 since to provide them with a 9-7 record heading into the final month of the campaign.
On Thursday, Bailey got an idea just how much her squad had improved and they came home from one of the toughest days of the schedule, going 1-2 in a quadrangular at Wichita-Bishop Carroll. That leaves the Buffs at 10-9 for the season.
The Lady Buffs matched up with two of the state’s Class 5A-ranked teams in Bishop Carroll (No. 4) and Maize South (No. 8), falling to both of those teams by match scores of 14-25, 7-25 to Maize South and 11-25, 9-25 to Maize South before salvaging the night with a 25-18, 25-7 triumph over 6A Junction City.
“We struggled in all areas of our game tonight,” Bailey said after the Thursday matches concluded. “We played two really good teams to start the night and we came out on our heels from the very first serve.”
Bailey said the Lady Buffs didn’t execute their offense as crisply as they had in the past couple of weeks during that 8-2 run. Ultimately, she said, there were too many free balls for the team to be successful.
“We knew going into tonight that we were going to face two of the best teams in 5A,” Bailey said, “but unfortunately we couldn’t put together a competitive set. We will keep working and we will continue to get better. I believe in our kids.”
Statistically, Julie Calzonetti led the Lady Buffs with 11 kills in the three matches and Melody Flores had 6. Mackenna Jagels paced the team with 5 service aces while Mya Cruz and Mya DelaCruz topped the assists with 20 and 12, respectively. Cruz had 23 digs and Flores 14 to lead that category.
The Lady Buffs will be idle until Oct. 8 when they host a triangular with Dodge City and Ulysses at The Garden.
Garden City High School 