Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Lady Horns struggle with tough competition, long week of play

The Lady Longhorn Volleyball team's struggle with consistency cost them two more wins when they traveled to Potter for the Sept. 8 triangular with Mitchell and Potter-Dix, in just two sets each.

"Our opponents were conference teams so we knew they were going to be tough. For us right now our biggest challenge is becoming consistent in our play," head coach Jeri Ferguson said.

In the first competition, against Mitchell, the Horns lost the first set 19-25 and followed with a disappointing 15-25 loss.

The Kimball ladies then played Potter-Dix for losing rounds of 10-25 and 16-25.

No stats were available for the Kimball team.

Ferguson will continue working on the team's consistency on the court while building on the Lady Horns' strengths.

"Our serve receive went well and there were moments that we played very strong in all facades of the game but again we need to become more consistent. We will serve very well one game and then the sets we lost we would miss lots of serves," she explained. "I was very pleased with everyone's play. Hannah (Biesecker) and Raelynn (Hinton) had strong hits but Jannel (Fiehtner), Alex (Reader), Shauntae (Daily) and Kaitlin (Wurdeman) used the off speed hits very successfully. Our setters, Justine (Heeg) and Madison (Wynne), did a great job of giving our hitters sets to hit."

The Lady Horns had a one-day break before facing off against Crawford, Hemingford, Bridgeport and Gordon-Rushville at the Gordon-Rushville Invite.

The Kimball girls fought hard for three sets against the Hemingford Lady Bobcats 20-25, 25-22, 13-25 and added another to the loss column before turning around to beat the Bridgeport team in another three sets, 15-25, 25-20 and 27-25.

The long Saturday game day ended with a loss in three sets against hosts, the Gordon-Rushville Lady Mustangs, 25-18, 17-25 and 14-25.

As the team looked forward to redeeming themselves in Gordon-Rushville High School for a triangular with Hemingford on Tuesday, Sept. 13, Coach Ferguson remains optimistic and sure of her Lady Horns' abilities.

"The best question that was answered for me last week was can we compete with our WTC opponents and the answer is yes," she said. "We need to continue to improve so we can come away with the win next time we play."

Ferguson will also be taking the team to Lincoln to watch the Husker Women's Volleyball game on Saturday, Sept. 17, in Lincoln.