By Staff

            CANTON – For the 2022 Canton/Galva volleyball program the season turned out to be a huge push forward as they closed out the season under new head coach Jessica Putman with a 15-16 record, a sizable increase of 10 wins over the 5-22 mark for the 2022 Lady Eagles.

            For the month of October, the Canton/Galva spikers closed out the season by scoring wins in six of the final thirteen matches. If you remove the October 1 home invitational where the Lady Eagles stumbled and lost all four matches, they concluded the final triangular of the season, the Wheat State League Tournament, and their Class 1A Division I Sub-State Tournament winning six of nine matches.

            At the end of the Wheat State League Meet where the team went 3-2, coach Putman noted, “Actively, we are all on the same page at the moment and we are pursuing one common goal. We had a lot of fun and we have shown several teams what our potential is.”

            The Lady Eagles bowed out of the sub-state tournament with a win over Solomon before losing to top-ranked Little River.

            With only Brecken Pearson and Lili Espinoza being seniors, coach Putman will begin next fall with a well-seasoned group of returnees led by freshman Trinity Espinoza. Trinity will be joined by Jayden Orth, Jordyn Elliot; Adi Alcala, Jordan Friesen, Carley Schmidt and Emma Herrera to help the Lady Eagles take another step forward from the successes of 2022.

            Not only did the season earn a better overall record, but it also showed some remarkable improvements in several categories over the previous season according to stats found on maxpreps.com.

            The Lady Eagles more than doubled the number of digs they made in 2022 over 2021 as they recorded 1,454 digs, an increase of 626 over the previous season.

            Canton/Galva also had an increase of 229 digs in 2022 as they dished out 561 while the 576 kills, they recorded in 2022 was another sizable increase of 213 over 2021.

            Among the season individual leaders for the Lady Eagles were the Espinoza sisters as Trinity and Lili recorded 231 and 197 kills, respectively, while also running neck-and-neck for the team leadership on making digs as Lili made 312 and Trinity finished just three behind with 309. The team nearly had a third Lady Eagle with over 300 digs as Jayden Orth pitched in and made 288 and Adi Alcala had 239.

            Alcala topped the team in directing the offense by passing out 330 assists while Brecken Pearson dishing out 187 despite missing several matches due to injuries.

            Trinity Espinoza and Pearson both reached passed the 30 mark for service aces with 32 and 30 each. Lili Espinoza and Jayden Orth also chipped in with 24 and 22, respectively.

CANTON/GALVA LADY EAGLE INDIVIDUAL STATS FOR 2022:

ASSISTS (561): Adi Alcala – 330; Brecken Pearson – 187; Trinity Espinoza – 17; Lili Espinoza – 14; Jayden Orth – 10; Jordyn Elliot – 3.

BLOCKS (42): Jordan Friesen – 20; Lili Espinoza – 8; Jordyn Elliot – 7; Adi Alcala – 6; Carley Schmidt – 5; Trinity Espinoza – 4; Brecken Pearson – 4.

DIGS (1,454): Lili Espinoza – 312; Trinity Espinoza – 309; Jayden Orth – 288; Adi Alcala – 239; Brecken Pearson – 142; Emma Herrera – 67; Jordan Friesen – 48; Jordyn Elliot – 40; Carley Schmidt – 9.

KILLS (576): Trinity Espinoza – 231; Lili Espinoza – 197; Jordyn Elliot – 52; Brecken Pearson – 32; Carley Schmidt – 27; Adi Alcala – 17; Jordan Friesen – 16; McKenzie Hoppes – 2; Jayden Orth – 1; Emma Herrera – 1.

SERVICE ACES (146): Trinity Espinoza – 32; Brecken Pearson – 30; Lili Espinoza – 24; Jayden Orth – 22; Emma Herrera – 16; Adi Alcala – 15; Jordyn Elliot – 6; Jordan Friesen – 1.

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