Usually on Senior Day the Lady Tigers get too emotional and swept up in the events instead of focusing on the task at hand. But against the cellar-dwelling Lady Broncs, Lusk got off to a fast start.
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In a new spin on Senior Day, the volleyball seniors wanted to include the four golfers and one cross country runner-in addition to the seven football playing classmates. Dylan Miller, Cole Hart, Caleb Kremers and Makayla Waldock recently completed their golf seasons while William Fish (running for Douglas High School) heads to the 3A state cross country meet this Saturday in Sheridan.
Usually on Senior Day the Lady Tigers get too emotional and swept up in the events instead of focusing on the task at hand. But against the cellar-dwelling Lady Broncs, Lusk got off to a fast start behind Miranda Gilkey’s pair of kills in the first minutes. NCHS had everything going right while the Lady Broncs were a step slow. The lead grew to 10-1, followed shortly by Gilkey ripping off five serves in a row. Trisha Hales got into the act from behind the line with four of her own and the lead was 20-7, before Lusk won 25-14.
In the second set the Lady Tigers jumped out to a big lead. Baleigh Abbott slammed one down and the lead was 12-5, forcing a timeout from the visitors. After the break, Gilkey, Taylor Gaukel and Reygan Molzan continued to hammer shots into the floor. Molzahn’s hit moved the lead to 24-12 before a Lady Bronc error ended it at 25-12.
Ashley Christianson put Lusk out ahead with five straight serves as a sweep seemed possible. Suddenly Burns had tied the set at seven and ahead 14-12. The Lady Tigers got a bit complacent with sloppy passes and poor communication. Gaukel tied it at 17 before the set was retied at 18, 20 and 22-before letting it slip away 25-22 to force a fourth set.
NCHS took back control in the fourth set with a 13-7 lead, but leaving Burns with a bit of hope as the visitors went on a 6-3 run. A fiery timeout from Head Coach Sandra Johnson set the girls right, as Molzahn, Gilkey and Smith made sure anything near the net was on the floor on the other side. Despite some errors, and not looking sharp like the first two sets NCHS won 25-21 to improve to 17-5 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
NCHS TEAM STATS: Serving- 91 serves/94 atts, 9 aces, 97 percent. 44 kills/135 atts, 33 percent. 39 assists. 7 blocks. 85 digs/116 atts, 73 percent.
NCHS PLAYER STATS: Serving- Christianson 20/20; Smith 16/16; Gilkey 27/28, 4 aces. Kills- Smith 10; Gaukel 9; Gilkey 8; Hales 7; Molzahn 7. Assists- Christianson 25; Emma Ceaglske 10. Blocks- Smith 5. Digs- Gaukel 21; Hales 21; Smith 17; Gilkey 14.
After a tough previous weekend which saw the JV lose at PB (25-20 and 27-25); and to Glenrock (25-19 and 25-23) the mostly freshman group rebounded with a two set win over Burns (25-17 and 25-22) on Saturday. The C squad beat Burns 27-25 and 25-12.
The regular season is in its final week and NCHS visits Southeast Friday night. While the Lady Cyclones won their first five conference games, they stumbled last week with losses to PB and Glenrock. Tiebreakers for volleyball are quite confusing, yet if this writer is correct- a Lusk win in Yoder would give the Lady Tigers the #2 seed at regionals. Sandwiched around the big game, SE hosts Lingle Thursday before Lusk visits the Lady Doggers on Saturday. While not a 2A conference game, SEWAC games still matter.
