By Staff for www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
MOUNDRIDGE – The 2022 volleyball season has begun for the Moundridge Lady Wildcats, and they have gone 1-3 to open the season.
On Tuesday, August 30, the Lady Wildcats played host to Ell-Saline and lost both matches in straight sets, losing match one, 18-25, 16-25 before dropping match two, 15-25, 20-25.
“We struggled with making serves and limiting our own errors,” noted Lady Wildcat second-year head coach Brooke Bumgarner. “We also struggled with containing their top outside hitter, Keala Wilson.”
Going on the road Thursday, September 1, Moundridge split a pair of matches with Hutchinson Trinity, losing the first match in a pair of hard-fought sets, 27-29, 23-25. It took three sets in the second match with Trinity, but the Lady Wildcats prevailed and earned their first win of the season, 25-11, 16-25, 25-13.
Regarding the matches with Hutchinson Trinity, coach Bumgarner added, “In the first match, both sets were close, and we were ahead late, we just could not finish them out. Too many hitting errors. We turned things around in the second match of the night as our defense stepped up their hustle. Our serve receive passes improved and we finally hit the ball without having so many errors.”
In the matches with Hutchinson Trinity, the Lady Wildcats were led by Cammi Unruh who recorded three aces our of 23 attempts while Kaelyn Wedel had four aces in 14 serves. Reese Schmidt led the team in hitting percentage as she scored eight kills out of 26 balls set to her position.
Next up for the Lady Wildcats will be a road trip to Marion on Tuesday, September 6 followed by a Saturday, September 10 trip to Goessel.
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)