Bluebirds 3rd at 2018 Invitational
Goessel Varsity Volleyball @ Goessel Bluebird Invitational September 8 2018
Goessel’s volleyball squad swept their pool in this year’s invitational and faced 3A (2017) Halstead in bracket play mid-afternoon. In a match that knotted up five times, Goessel (2A 2017) stayed with the Dragons to 21-21 before the visitors put away the next four points to close 21-25. In the 2nd set, the lead changed hands three times but Halstead went on a 7-1 run to lead 11-18 and Goessel could not get back in it. The 2nd set closed at 17-25. Goessel faced Canton-Galva for third place and finished strong in that match to secure the win. Halstead went on to face Sedgwick (3A 2017) in the championship, and in a thrilling three setter Sedgwick emerged as this year’s champion.
The Bluebirds faced 2A (2017) rival Canton-Galva in the wake-up call 8:30 am match. Canton struck first, but the Blue took the lead at 2-1 and never looked back. The match showed early morning errors both ways, as Goessel earned 16 and Canton-Galve only 8 of their points. Freshman Kaleigh Guhr stroked a deep ace to lead 6-4, Savanna Wuest also teased the back line with a magnificent whack to stay at 8-6, and Cierra Nolte showed great hang time with a right side thwang and a savvy left side push to go up 12-8. Today, Bethany Herrel and Raechael Zogleman showed several good volleys in the front row for the younger Bluebirds. The Eagles kept it close all the way to the finish, knotting at 20 after back to back aces from Unruh, but Nolte swatted one so hard, the sonic boom knocked Becky the Hippo out of Matthias’ hands. In another high flying finish, #27 slam-dunked one so hard it was last seen leaving the city limits. Stephany Meyer finished it 25-21 with a quick middle swap off a nice quick set.
The first set was an early sign as the two teams traded frescoes, with Meyer punching a nice middle shot and the Eagles looking tough on retrieve. At 7-6, the Bluebirds had not made a single error. Wuest struck paydirt with a targeted poke into the corner, then bamboozled one crosscourt to lead 10-7. Canton-Galve knotted it at 15, but Nolte notched another poke and with Madi Smith serving Goessel rolled 5-0 to lead 20-15; timeout Eagles. Out of the time-out Smith launched a near perfect bullet ace, but a rash of ball-handling errors allowed the Eagles to go back up 22-23. A beautiful swap from Wuest tied it at 24, then 25. Wuest rolled one off the net from the left corner to lead 26-25, but the Eagles poked back to tie again. With the score at 27-26, Nolte found hardwood with a cool-headed touch-fingertip stroke to win the hard-fought stanza 28-26.
At 10:45 Goessel faced Central Christian (1A 2017) and waltzed out to a 7-0 lead on seven straight earned points. With Smith at the line, the Blue got finishes from Alderfer, Nolte and a straight down block from Meyer. Smith was also credited with a great get on the last of the seven. Audessi Unruh at libero has been playing rock steady for Goessel in each of their matches so far, a huge presence particularly when the going gets tight. Nolte finished magnificently from the right and Meyer blocked again to lead 9-1. Meyer kavoomped one in the middle on a pretty slide set from Guhr, then Nolte recorded a one handed block to lead 13-6. Herrel blocked spectacularly in the middle and Nolte punched one down on a very classy Wuest back set 17-11. Smith rolled off two quick aces, then Meyer put up two back to back stunning middle down-blocks followed by a middle kill. Wuest finished well to go 22-18 and two visitor errors closed this one 25-20. Goessel was credited with 21 earned points in this well played offensive contest, but played with some very tentative ball handling yielding 15 errors while the visitors earned only 5 of their 20 points.
In the 2nd set, Goessel was never behind, as the Cougars allowed the ‘Birds 12 points on giveaway errors. Nolte shone again at the left corner and on the right side, again off a nifty back set. Guhr launched a marshmallow service ace so soft the ball barely bounced on receive. Wuest took the Blue up 8-6 with an exquisite swat that pierced the block, then Goessel ran 4-0 with Wuest at the line. At 15-8 Nolte notched a fantastic down block and multiple Cougar errors left it at 20-10. Time out, Central Christian. Savanna got caught backing up on the set and still, while backpeddling, knocked down a delivery that shook up the pulled pork/nacho concession stand. Two points later the Senior blasted one again for the 22-12 lead. Nolte found the range with two finale strokes to close this one 25-14.
Goessel had no trouble with Wichita Independent (3A 2017) in the closing stanza of pool play. Leaping out to a 4-0 lead, the Bluebirds put up consistent receive/pass against the visitors’ struggles with ball-handling. Goessel’s Smith and Unruh particularly looked strong in the receive / pass realm . Meyer got a nice sideways hit for a crowd pleasing return. Nolte tipped and caromed a great crosscourt into the very most extreme teensy tiniest part of the far corner. Meyer left the fans gasping with a great hang time shot to go 20-12, then the Bluebirds executed a poster child receive / pass / set sequence to Wuest that is now showing as an instructional video worldwide. Meyer and Herrel ended this one with great blocks in the middle for the 25-13 win. The second set was more of the same as Independent only earned 2 points in the first set and 4 in the second. In less than scintillating action, Goessel only earned 9 in the 2nd set but committed only 7 errors while the Panthers committed 16 errors in the 2nd. The Bluebirds put in 4 aces in each set.
Goessel faced Halstead in bracket play at 3:20 pm. The Bluebirds got out to an 8-3 lead, their biggest against the Dragons, with nice finishes from Wuest in the corner and hitting errors from the visitors. Timeout Dragons. Goessel committed its first error of the match at 10-9 and stayed up on whacks from Nolte and a Meyer middle block 12-9. With the Halstead libero serving, the Dragons skated to 12-15, a 6 point shift, and the Blue could not recover. On a Guhr set to Wuest, a nice tip found paydirt then the Bluebirds got help from Freshman Raechael Zogleman with a well crafted swat from the right. Zogleman made a name for herself on the next play with a winning down block to stay at 17-18. On errors, it knotted at 19, then at 20, then at 21 on a Herrell finish. Despite a timeout at 21-23, Goessel could not hold the Dragon fire at bay and the set closed at 21-25.
Nolte crushed one crosscourt, giving a social media reach-out jolt to relative Linda on Facetime. Meyer blitzed one deep to knot at 4-4, but at 7-7 the Halstead hitters took over with three straight back-breaking shots. Zogleman got another kill, then Nolte brought the crowd to their feet off a nifty backset to stay at 10-12. At 11-18 after another big Dragon flameout, Coach Guhr called time. Wuest stroked one from the back row and Stephany laid down an aggressive ace at 14-19. Despite several more excellent strokes, the Blue could not find the range and the Dragons moved on 17-25.
For the third place game, Goessel found itself in the Junior High gym against Canton-Galva for the 2nd time. Canton carries three senior leaders listed under 5’7”. Fans sported the “Eagle on a Stick” in their student section. Fans noticed a definite change from the main gym to the 2nd gym in how carries, lifts, and double hits were interpreted. Goessel jumped out to a 9-2 lead on 2 aces from Nolte and 2 middle shots from Meyer. The Eagles quickly jumped back in it on multiple errors from the Blue side 10-11. Herrell knocked one down to retake the lead 13-12, then Audessi blasted a pretty ace. With Wuest serving, two quick deep diving serves took it to 21-16. Timeout CG. Smith added another ace to the tally and the first set ended 25-18. Goessel recorded 7 aces in the set.
In the final set of the night, two tired teams traded salvos. Canton went up 2-4 on two aces. At 7-7, Wuest tipped on the left to a falling Eagle and flat on her back she attempted a Euro style bicycle soccer kick. Goessel struggled with ball handling errors and the Eagles went up 8-12 before Stephany got things going again with a superb middle block and Herrell surprised the Eagles with a nifty finish on the 2nd hit. 10-12. On errors, it went to 13-13 and then to 14-17. Nolte blitzed one with such authority there was a call from the National Earthquake Monitoring Center. Mr. Lightner assure them all was well. Smith rolled an ace serve off the net, Meyer got another block and then Smith brought the crowd collectively to their feet with yet another service ace to go up 18-17. Meyer kept things corralled with two back to back middle blocks to leave it at 21-19. Timeout Canton Galva. On errors it went to 23-22, then Zogleman connected with a huge hit from the right, the biggest of her young HS career, to go to 24-22. Canton-Galva took its final timeout. Herrell met the Eagle hitter in the middle and with the down-block the highly contested set ended 25-22.
Congratulations to the Bluebirds for their 3rd place finish at the Bluebird Invite!
-Karl Brubaker
