By Staff for www.mcpherson-county-ks.com & www.facebook.com/mcphersoncountyks

            LITTLE RIVER – On Thursday, the Little River volleyball team went to four sets before sneaking out a victory in a dual with Ellsworth.

            With just five points separating the two teams in the first two sets, the Lady Redskins were able to get wins in both at 25-22, and 25-23 before Ellsworth played out a five-point, 20-25 win in set three. Little River was able to put the win to rest with a 25-18 victory in the fourth set.

            “We knew our level of play needed to be pretty high in order for us to defeat a good Ellsworth team,” explained Lady Redskin head coach Kim Rolfs. “We came in with a lot more energy tonight knowing that. Had some great moments but I felt tonight as if we were on the struggle bus for too long at various times of the night. The good news about playing great teams is now we know what our weaknesses are and can work on bettering them.”

            Kate Ellwood and Chenzi Debaere led the team in directing the offensive attacks by dishing out 17 and 12 assists, respectively.

            Alaina Eck recorded eight kills while Kami Grasser had seven and both Ashley Stephenson and Aubrey Olander recorded six.

            Olander made seven blocks with Stephenson getting six and both Lucy Wright and Havana Olander chipped in with five.

            Statistically, several Lady Redskins are in the top tier for league stats according to maxpreps.com with Aubrey Olander leading the Wheat State League in hitting percentage at .329 and Chenzi Debaere topping the league in assists with 123. In recorded kills, Alaina Eck and Olander rank number two and three with Eck having 77 and Olander 69.

            Coach Rolfs concluded her post match reflections by adding, “I have to say while all the girls played well, we had some others really step up and play extremely well tonight. Ashley Stephenson had a great night of hitting and blocking in getting some key blocks when we needed them. Kami Grasser passed the ball much better than she has of late and put down some key kills. It was nice seeing both those two shine a bit this evening.”

            Now 12-1 for the season the Lady Redskins will be on the road next week with a quad at Canton/Galva on Tuesday that includes Solomon and Elyria Christian before closing out the week on Saturday, September 24 at a tournament in Lyons.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)