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HARTINGTON - The Cedar Catholic Lady Trojan volleyball team completed a very bust week in a triangular and a tournament and when the dust settled, Cedar Catholic’s record stands at 7-10 on the season as the Lady Trojans went 2-5 for the week.
Cedar Catholic traveled to Stanton on Sept. 21 to play in the Stanton Invitational and came away with a 2-1 record with wins over Stanton and West Point-Beemer and a loss to Crofton on the day.
In the Stanton Tournament, the Lady Trojans swept the hosts 2-0 then defeated the Lady Cadets 2-1 before falling to Crofton 2-1 to complete a 2-1 day.
In the final match with the Lady Warriors, the teams battled through the first set with Crofton eventually breaking free for a 25-20 win, but Cedar Catholic came charging back in set two and evened the match with 25-14.
“Overall we played pretty well, especially in the second set,” Cedar Catholic coach Danae Buss said. “Crofton really stepped back up in the last set, but we mixed up our sets pretty good and everyone stepped up to play aggressively.”
The Lady Warriors did “step back up” in the final set and reversed the score on the Lady Trojans, 25-14 to take the match.
Lauren Bernecker was the key ingredient to the Lady Trojan attack leading the way with nine winners, Melayna McGregor added seven.
McGregor also had a couple of ace serves and put up 12 assists and had 12 digs for a double-double. Lyndsey Hamilton also had a dozen set assists.
Bailey Hochstein recorded 18 digs in the match.
Cedar Catholic won the first matches in the tournament in the opening match over Stanton 25-19 and 25-21 then defeated the Lady Cadets 23-25, 25-23 and 25-22.
In the match with West Point-Beemer, the Lady Trojans kept fighting for the match after dropping the first set and trailing in both sets two and three late in each set.
“We came back twice in the last two sets,” Buss said. “It was really good to see the fight from everyone.”
Lauren Bernecker had 11 kills in the match, Addison Walter added nine, McGregor had six and Katelyn Arens had five.
Hamilton had four ace serves and 19 set assists along with 13 digs to record a double-double.
Lauren Bernecker also had a double-double adding 13 digs to her 11 winners.
Cedar Catholic used a streamlined attack to defeat Stanton in the opening round of the invitational.
“I was very proud of our team being in control against a very good Stanton team,” said Buss. “We did a good job with a high hitting efficiency.”
And the Lady Trojan defense was very active with Hochstein recording seven digs, McGregor and McKinlee Lammers each had five and Hamilton had four.
Earlier in the week, Cedar Catholic hosted a triangular at the Werner Activities Center with Elgin Public/ Pope John and Norfolk Catholic on Sept. 17.
In the second match, Cedar Catholic dropped a 25-22, 16-25 and 21-25 best-of-three match to Norfolk Catholic.
The Lady Trojans won the opening set to grab the upper hand in the match in the beginning.
“We really came out aggressively and were able to mix our sets up off a strong back row passing,” Cedar Catholic coach, Denae Buss said. “Our hitters did a great job putting the ball away.”
After taking the opening set, the Lady Knights responded in set two.
“In the second set we really did a nice job,” the coach said. “We just got caught putting a string of errors together.”
Cedar Catholic battled throughout the third and final set, but just couldn’t pull away at the end and dropped the match after losing the set by the 25-21 final score.
Melayna McGregor paced a very balanced Lady Trojan hitting attack with seven kills in the match. Anisten Wortmann, Lauren Bernecker and Addison Walter recorded five winners each and Katelyn Arens added four.
McGregor also recorded a doubledouble with 11 set assists and 10 digs and added a couple of ace serves and a block to complete an impressive match.
Lyndsey Hamilton also recorded a double-double, matching McGregor in assists with 11 and digging up 11 attempted winners.
Bailey Hochstein had a great game in the back row with 21 digs and 21 quality passes.
In the match with Elgin Public/ Pope John, the Lady Wolfpack took advantage of some sloppy Lady Trojan play to pull out a 25-15 and 25-17 sweep over Cedar Catholic.
“Collectively as a team we strung a lot of errors together from a lot of different areas,” Buss said. “Serving was highlighting our game though. We did a good job of hitting the targeted area and making the most of those.”
McGregor again led the way with four kills and seven assists, Hamilton also tipped up seven assists.
Cedar Catholic was set for a Mid-State Conference match up with Pierce on the road Sept. 24 before heading to Wayne for a triangular on Sept. 26 with a couple of conference foes, Wayne and O’Neill.
Crofton def. Cedar 25-20, 14-25, 25-14.
CEDAR (6-9): Brynn Bernecker 2k, 1b, 4d, 1s; Anisten Wortmann 2k, 2b, 2d, 2r; Savannah Pick 2b; Lauren Bernecker 9k, 1b, 9d, 8r; Katelyn Arens 3k, 3b; Lyndsey Hamilton 1k, 1a, 5d, 12s; Melayna McGregor 7k, 2a, 12d, 12s, 4r; Addison Walter 3k, 1a, 3b, 1d; McKinlee Lammers 11d, 3r; Bailey Hochstein 18d, 1s, 27r. Cedar def. West Point-Beemer 23-25, 25-23, 25-22.
CEDAR: B. Bernecker 4k, 2b, 2r; Wortmann 3k, 1r; Pick 3k, 1d; L. Bernecker 11k, 13d, 22r; Arens 5k, 3b; Hamilton 1k, 4a, 13d, 19s; McGregor 6k, 3a, 2b, 10d, 12s, 1r; Walter 9k, 1b, 3d, Lammers 1a, 7d; Hochstein 10d, 2s, 22r. Cedar def. Stanton 25-19, 25-21.
CEDAR: B. Bernecker 6k, 3b, 1r; Wortmann 4k, 1d; L. Bernecker 6k, 1b, 3d, 10r; Arens 3b; Hamilton 2a, 4d, 12s; McGregor 7k, 1b, 5d, 13s, 3r; Walter 4k, 2b, 1d; Hochstein 7d, 1s, 13r. Norfolk Catholic defeats Cedar Catholic 22-25, 25-16, 25-21.
CEDAR: Brynn Bernecker 2k, 1b, 3d, 1r; Anisten Wortmann 5k, 1b, 1d, 2s, 2r; Lauren Bernecker 5k, 3a, 8d, 23r; Katelyn Arens 4k, 1b, 1d, 4r; Lyndsey Hamilton 1a, 11d, 11s, 1r; Melayna Mc-Gregor 7k, 2a, 1b, 10d, 11s, 2r; Addison Walter 5k, 1b, 2d; McKinlee Lammers 2a, 12d, 8r; Bailey Hochstein 21d, 21r. Elgin/Pope John def. Cedar 25-15, 25-17.
CEDAR: Brynn Bernecker 2k, 2b, 1r; Anisten Wortmann 3k; Savannah Pick 1k, 1b, 1r; Lauren Bernecker 2k, 1a, 4d, 11r; Katelyn Arens 1k, 4b, 1r; Lyndsey Hamilton 1a, 3d, 7s; Melayna McGregor 4k, 1b, 3d, 7s, 8r; Addison Walter 1k, 1a, 1b, 2r; McKinlee Lammers 7d, 2r; Bailey Hochstein 6d, 16r.
