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PONCA - Cedar Catholic went east on Highway 12 for a triangular with Ponca and Wynot in Ponca on Oct. 10 and ended up splitting the best-of-three matches.
The Lady Trojans dropped a great match to the Lady Indians, 25-15, 27-25 and 26-24 then beat Wynot 25-23 and 25-18 in straight sets.
Against the Lady Blue Devils, coach Denae Buss was happy with the effort of her team after the loss to Ponca.
“We had some girls fill in for injured players and they have really been doing a good job,” said Buss. “Overall we played aggressively from start to finish and that is what we are asking from them.”
Ava Stewart, Reese Albers and Jocelyn Bottolfsen have found the court in the past few matches due to injuries to some of the Lady Trojans.
“Ava is putting up a big block and is available to hit all the time,” Buss said. “Jocelyn and Reese came into serve and they were exciting for us, stepping right in to fill those roles.”
Katelyn Arens and Brynn Bernecker led a fairly balanced attack with six winning swings apiece, Stewart and Lauren Bernecker each had four kills.
Melayna McGregor had five ace serves and also tipped up 10 set assists. Lyndsey Hamilton added nine assists.
Bailey Hochstein had a great match in the back row going down for 14 digs and making good on 11 passes. Hamilton also contributed, adding nine digs to the team’s totals.
In the loss to Ponca, Cedar Catholic looked poised to make short work of the Lady Indians taking the first set 25-15, but Ponca responded in grinding out the final two sets in extra points, 27-25 and 26-24.
“I felt we played extremely well in this match,” the coach said. “There were just a few points that could have changed the outcome of the game that we can fix. The defense from our team was amazing. We put in position to win and that’s what we want. We will learn from this time and be there next time.”
McGregor had a great match with 14 kills and 11 set assists for a double-double. Brynn and Lauren Bernecker each added eight winners and Arens contributed five.
Hochstein had another great match in the back row with 19 digs and 20 quality returns and passes.
The Lady Trojans were set to head south to Laurel on Oct. 15 to take on the 23-3 Laurel-Concord- Coleridge Lady Bears in a best-of-five sets match before hosting Boone Central on Oct. 17.
The Mid State Conference Tournament is slated to begin Oct. 21.
k=Kills, a=Ace Serves, b=Blocks, d=Digs, s=Set Assists, r=Successful Passes. Cedar Catholic (10-14) defeated Wynot (12-8) 25-23, 25-18. CEDAR CATHOLIC: Brynn Bernecker 6k, 1b, 4d; Anisten Wortmann 2k, 1b, 1d, 3r; Ava Stewart 4k, 2b, 1d; Lauren Bernecker 4k, 3b, 8d, 10r; Katelyn Arens 6k, 3b; Lyndsey Hamilton 1k, 1a, 9d, 9s; Melayna McGregor 2k, 5a, 2b, 8d, 10s, 2r; McKinlee Lammers 5d, 2r; Bailey Hochstein 14d, 1s, 11r; Jocelyn Bottolfsen 1a. Ponca (10-15) defeats Cedar Catholic 15-25, 27-25, 26-24. CEDAR CATHOLIC: B. Bernecker 8k, 3b, 3d, 4r; Wortmann 2d, 1r, Stewart 3k, 3b, 1d; L. Bernecker 8k, 11d, 9r; Arens 5k, 2b; Hamilton 2k, 2a, 16d, 18s; McGregor 14k, 1a, 3b, 6d, 11s, 5r; Lammers 8d, 8r; Hochstein 1a, 19d, 4s, 20r; Reese Albers 1a, 3d, 2s, 1r.
