Longhorns take down McCook, SPVA teams

    The Chase County volleyball team got five games under its belt last week after matches in McCook and Lexington.
McCook Triangular
    The Longhorns split games with Minden and McCook at the McCook Triangular Aug. 31.
    CCS started off the night with a 15-25, 17-25 loss to Minden (8-1).
    Chase County struggled to hold serve in the first set, only scoring consecutive points twice.
    Minden took a eight-point lead early in the second set. Liz Reeves brought CCS back to within five points, 15-20, but the Longhorns couldn’t overcome the deficit.
    Bryn McNair’s six kills and Jerzee Milner’s 12 assists led CCS.
    Chase County finished off the night with a 25-23, 25-11 win over the Bison (0-4).
    McCook closed a six-point deficit to make the first set interesting. Leading 24-23, CCS finished out the set on its first chance.
    With Joee Clevenger and Gisselle Acuna serving, CCS jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second set. The Longhorns were leading 14-8, but the pair came around to serve again and increased the lead to 22-10. Reeves finished off the match serving.
    Milner had 17 assists and McNair 11 kills.
Lexington Tourney
    The Longhorns spent Saturday at the Lexington Tournament.
    CCS lost its opening game of the tournament to Broken Bow, 9-25, 11-25.
    The undefeated Indians, ranked sixth in Class C1, went on to win the tournament.
    McNair led CCS with five kills.     The Longhorns rebounded with a 25-23, 26-24 win over North Platte St. Pat’s (3-4).
    It was a game of runs, starting off with the teams trading six-point runs early in the first set. CCS trailed 10-13 before five-straight points put the Longhorns in the lead. But NPSP answered with its own five-point run to regain the advantage. Chase County trailed 20-22 until Reeves served up a four-point run that gave CCS set point.
    Set two stayed close throughout. With the game tied at 22, NPSP scored two points but was unable to end the set. With the Longhorns’ backs to the wall, Milner served out the set.
    McNair had 13 kills and Milner earned 19 assists. Dillan had 11 service receptions and McNair 13.
    CCS finished in fifth place after a 25-13, 25-22 win over Hershey (1-4).
    The Longhorns took control early in set one and held its biggest lead at 20-5.
    Hershey was tougher to shake  in the second set. The game was tied at 15 before CCS pulled away for the win.
    McNair had a team-high 12 kills and Milner had 17 assists. Clevenger totaled 10 digs.
    CCS Head Coach April Lambert said she didn’t put much thought into playing two conference opponents to end the day and would have rather faced Class B opponents like Holdrege, Hastings or Lexington.
    “Before the games I just asked them to focus on the mentality we had set at the start of the season: that every game matters,” she said.
Reserves, JVs at McCook
    Chase County’s ninth and 10th grade teams played at McCook Aug. 30.
    The 10th grade team won 25-17, 25-10. The ninth grade team won 25-27, 25-21,15-13.
    The JV squad also faced McCook and Minden during the triangular the following night.
    CCS lost to Minden 11-25, 21-25, then fell to McCook 19-25, 25-20, 10-25.
Up next
    Games against Minden and Broken Bow were a good reminder of what the Longhorns are working towards.
    Lambert said both teams are  top tier and a different caliber than other opponents that CCS sees during the season.
    “Both games are good checkpoints of areas that we need to continue to strengthen to be prepared for top opponents in the postseason,” she said.
    The team will work on serve receive over the next week, especially like the aggressive float serve opponents CCS saw in Minden and Broken Bow, Lambert said.
    An emphasis will also be placed on defense and transition attacking out of serve receive, she added, plus blocking and speeding up the offense.
    Yuma, Colorado (2-2) returned to the CCS schedule with a match in Imperial Tuesday.
    The Longhorns won’t take the court again until a trip to Sedgewick County, Colorado (5-0) next Tuesday.