Ashley Nehls kept calling timeouts, but it didn’t matter — even if the Emporia High volleyball coach had unlimited timeouts at her disposal, the Spartans weren’t going to challenge powerful Hayden.
Making their first appearance at home this season, the Spartans were swept in three sets by a Wildcat squad that’s ranked No. 2 in the Kansas Volleyball Association’s Class 4A rankings. Emporia took the initial 1-0 lead in each of the last two sets, but it didn’t get much better than that, as the Spartans lost 16-25, 7-25, 12-25.
Hayden and its primary attacker, hard-spiking Lindsay Biggs, kept the Spartans on their heels and repeatedly took them out of their offense. Nehls used all of her allotted timeouts during the first and third sets, and used one during the second set, but the impact was minimal. EHS pulled within 17-13 in the first set, and a block and kill by Gladys Azzun later helped get Emporia to within 22-16, but the Spartans (7-8) didn’t score again.
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