The season is less than halfway finished, but the Emporia High volleyball team already is well on its way toward reaching its goal of winning at least 20 matches this year.
The Lady Spartans came away from the Hayden Quad in Topeka on Tuesday night with a 2-1 record, giving EHS 10 victories on the season with six regular-season multi-team tournaments still ahead.
EHS (10-5) got to 10 wins in impressive fashion, too, defeating perennial Class 5A power Shawnee Heights, 2-1, and sweeping Junction City while falling in a competitive match to Hayden, 2-0.
“We’re doing a really good job so far,” Taylor Hollond said. “Everything is coming together for us, and it’s been a really fun season so far. We’ve been playing really well.”
Emporia started its night with one of the biggest victories in coach Kendra Bloomquist’s 11 years guiding the EHS volleyball team, as the Lady Spartans defeated Shawnee Heights, 25-17, 21-25, 25-23. It was the first time EHS has defeated Heights in Bloomquist’s tenure.
“That was a huge, huge, huge win,” the coach said. “We played really well, and it was a big, big win for us.”
EHS took control of Game One of the match early on, jumping out to a 5-1 lead thanks in part to kills by Hilary Heinrichs and Jessica Decker and a service ace by Hollond.
Emporia slowly stretched its advantage, taking an 18-11 lead on two Lindy Arndt kills, and then a trio of kills by Decker, Sadie Webb and Ashley Lake helped finish off the game.
Heights rebounded in Game Two, building a 16-7 on its way to tying the match, but not before EHS came back to close to within three points at 23-20.
There were seven ties in the deciding Game Three, the last one coming at 17-all. That’s when Hollond put down a kill to give EHS an 18-17 lead, which it would never relinquish.
“That was a really awesome win,” Hollond said. “We knew they were really good, but we went in with good attitude, and it was just exciting to get the win.”
EHS came back to earth a little in Match Two against Hayden, falling in straight sets, 25-13, 25-21.
Bloomquist said her squad suffered somewhat of a “letdown” after the Shawnee Heights match, saying her team “played a little flat,” but still managing to keep competitive with a powerful Hayden squad.
“For every high, there’s an equal and opposite low,” Bloomquist said.
But the Lady Spartans didn’t stay down for long, coming back in the final match of the night to sweep Junction City, 25-22, 25-19.
“We just had a really good night,” Bloomquist said. “To go 2-1 tonight was a huge, huge deal for us.”
Rain causes
postponement
The Emporia High tennis team did not get to travel to Topeka Tuesday afternoon to compete in the Washburn Rural Invitational because of the rain that moved through the area.
Instead, the meet was postponed to today, and was expected to start at 3 p.m.