Undefeated Wheat State League Champions!
Undefeated Wheat State League Champions!
Goessel’s Lady Bluebirds completed their 4th straight unbeaten regular season Wheat State League championship quest Tuesday at Wakefield. The Bluebirds have not lost a regular season match in the history of the Wheat State League. This year, Goessel has completed the feat without a single senior in the lineup.
Congratulations, Coach Guhr and the Lady Bluebirds! Keep earning………..
Tonight’s contests did not provide a lot of sizzle, as all three matches were completed and the bus was ready to pull out at 8:30 pm. By comparison, last week at Solomon, the Bluebirds were just beginning play at that time. Opponents tonight earned 18 points in six sets, so this evening did not help strengthen the team; it did offer a chance to try some new rotations and for additional players to participate in varsity competition. Goessel defeated host Wakefield 25-16, 25-9 then graciously handled Flint Hills Christian 25-5, 25-10 and St. Xavier 25-3, 25-7.
Wakefield showed some improvement from last year’s squad and took advantage of 12 Bluebird errors in the first set. Tonight’s contests provided plenty of repetitive serving practice; Erin led this one off and together her and Makayla went to 8-3. Bomber errors took it to 11-4 before the hosts called time. Tonight the fans held their breath whenever Page took to the sky, hoping no one got hurt on the other side of the net. Many of Page’s laser bombs found the floor. Most of the night her efforts were either unblocked or not blocked well. Shelby and Anna came in. Erin had a nice finish on the left corner to take it to 14-7, Olivia had a well-executed block but was called in the net, but followed with a perfect thump in the middle off Alyssa’s quick set. This match saw way too many Bluebird errors including some early setting struggles. Page and Olivia had a spectacular middle block. Goessel called time at 17-12 wanting to regain some direction. With Page up front again and Makayla serving, the Bluebirds flew on a 6-0 run to put this contest away. Alicen found the left corner line out of the middle and then finished the set with a beautiful roll right at 25-16.
In the second set, the Bombers earned five points and the ‘Birds only gave away 4. The vocal home “Blue Crew” kept up the support din but the visiting Blue Crew looked much better. Page crushed a nearly vertical shot from the left corner to start; Goessel, experimenting with some different looks, was called for a rotation error and went down 3-4 to the Bombers, their only time behind tonight. Alicen brought it back with a huge carom from the left and solid steady play took the ‘Birds on a 10-3 run. Alicen pummeled another right roll, but the Bombers dug it and Goessel couldn’t finish. Olivia tallied a fantastic solo block and followed with a pretty finish in the middle. Page hammered one down the line, Alicen hit crosscourt in the middle and Page tattooed one into the corner to go up 15-7. Gentry got an ace then Page finished the set serving with a now familiar 6-0 run 25-9. Erin got a solid kill on the left and blocked to finish.
Goessel was not tested by the next two opponents. Goessel only committed one error against Flint Hills Christian and pulled away with a 25-5 win. Erin served to 14-0 before Flint Hills broke through a Goessel block. Page boomed one and Anna Wiens came off the bench to complete a 4-0 run, including a beautiful save by Shelby. Page and Alyssa did the serving damage in the second set taking the Blue on runs of 7-0 and 5-0. Flint Hills only earned two points in this one, but Goessel again could not maintain total focus and gave FH 8 points on errors. Alyssa pummeled four aces/unplayable serves. Various Bluebird hitters hammered Alyssa Booton sets/assists to the floor and this one ended 25-10.
Makayla and Gentry served to 16-1 before St Xavier earned its one and only point. During the series, Gentry notched four aces and Alicen had several nice strikes. Erin scored a savvy block and Alicen finished solid again. Anna Wiens, now known as the Mariano Rivera of volleyball closers, came in and finished this game with two untouched aces 25-3. In the second set, it was 8-1 as Alicen pounded one into Meagan Fernandez. At 11-1, another Alicen strike again found Fernandez and Alicen finished once more, this time crosscourt away from Meagan. Erin struck a nice shot crosscourt to take it to 16-7 and (you guessed it) Anna came in and served out the contest 25-7, recording five aces and complimented by three Erin finishes .
