The Emporia High volleyball team went 1-2 Tuesday night at the Santa Fe Trail Invitational, defeating host Santa Fe Trail in two games and losing in straight sets to Seaman and Mill Valley.
“We learned some things about ourselves tonight,” EHS coach Kendra Bloomquist said. “We didn’t play with aggression all the time — we lacked it at times. We tried to play safe late in some games, and that doesn’t win us any matches, but we’ll get that taken care of.”
In the first match of the night against Seaman, Emporia High battled one of the tougher teams in the state but could not get over the hump, losing in two games, 25-23, 25-23.
“It was about as close as you can come to winning without actually winning,” Bloomquist said.
In Game One, EHS jumped out to a 13-5 lead on a Sadie Webb kill, but Seaman made a run to tie it at 15 before gaining a five-point advantage. The Lady Spartans drew to within 24-23, but could not tie the game again. There were 15 ties in Game Two, but like the first game, Seaman managed to squeeze past Emporia.
Jessica Decker had eight kills and Taylor Hollond had seven to lead the way for EHS.
“We really should have won that match, and the girls all feel that way too,” Bloomquist said. “We didn’t play poorly, we just haven’t learned quite how to win yet.”
Emporia came back in its next match to defeat Santa Fe Trail, 25-22, 25-18.
The Lady Spartans scored the final three points of the first game after a 22-all tie, and then jumped out to leads of 15-9 and 20-10 in Game Two to win fairly easily.
Hollond, who finished the night with 24 kills in three matches, had 11 against Santa Fe Trail.
“She was golden against Santa Fe Trail,” Bloomquist said. “She was on fire. She had a great night overall, but against Sante Fe Trail, everything she touched turned to gold.”
In the night’s final match, Mill Valley swept Emporia, 25-19, 25-17.
Emporia’s hitters struggled against the Lady Jaguars, only recording 12 kills by the midway point of the second game.
“Our hitters had trouble putting things away,” Bloomquist said. “We’re not going to win a lot of games if we have 12 kills by the middle of Game Two.”
Ashley Lake, Hollond and Webb each finished with six kills against Mill Valley.
The next action for Emporia (3-3) is Saturday at the Rossville Invitational.
EHS girls golf places 9th at Newton
Emporia High’s Maryann Bennett was just two strokes out of the top 10 to lead the Lady Spartans golf team to a ninth-place finish out of 11 teams Tuesday at the Newton Invitational.
Bennett carded a 14-over par 50 on the par-36 sand greens course, barely missing out on a medal, as Andover’s Kelli Hammond carded a 48 to place 10th.
Rachael Clopton was the next highest finisher for EHS, carding a 22-over 58. Melissa Heinitz finished with a 63, Makenzie Harder carded a 70 and both Hannah Watkins and Seung-Yun Shin had 74s.
Emporia finished with a team score of 241, two strokes better than 10th-place Buhler (243) and 23 better than Salina Central. Andover won the team title with a team score of 182.