Lady Cougars sweep Flint Hills triangular, bomb at invitational
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
A week which began Tuesday with a clean sweep for the Lady Cougars at the Flint Hills triangular at Manhattan ended Saturday on a sour note. The Cougars failed to advance out of pool play at the Centre invitational after falling to Hope, Berean Academy, and Council Grove.
Other participating teams were Little River, Flint Hills, Marion, and Herington.
The Lady Cougars entered the tournament with a 3-2 record but ended it at 3-5.
In Tuesday's games, the girls defeated Flint Hills in three games, 25-21, 21-25, and 25-17. They defeated St. Xavier in two games, 25-18 and 25-8.
It was a different story Saturday, when the team was pitted against two 2A teams and a feisty 1A team.
They fell to Hope in the first match in two games, 20-25 and 18-25.
Alyssa Luna was leading server for nine points. She also aced the ball two times. Selena Seifert was leading setter, setting the ball 30-of-31, eight for a kill. Kylie Burhoop led the defense with 11-of-14 spikes and three kills.
The Lady Cougars came close to defeating Berean Academy but lost in three games, 19-25, 25-16, and 23-25.
The third game was tied, 23-23, when Berean went ahead by one and Centre let the ball drop dead on the final play of the game for a disappointing loss.
Burhoop served for a total of nine points and had one ace. Seifert was a perfect 38-of-38 in setting, six for a kill.
Burhoop led the defense with 16-of-21 spikes and seven kills. Barney was 13-of-14 with seven kills, and Jackie Klenda 11-of-11 with three kills.
All the steam seemed to have gone out of the team as they went on to face Council Grove. They were defeated in two lackluster games, 9-25 and 14-25.
Megan Gutsch led serving with four points. Luna was 14-of-14 and Seifert 27-of-27 at setting, with no kills.
Barney had two individual aces and 11-of-15 spikes, four for a kill.
Coach Burhoop wasn't happy with the girls' overall performance.
"The second match went better, but in the third match, the girls left the gym," she said. "They also didn't communicate very well. We'll work on that and hope to improve in the future."
Little River won the tournament, followed by Council Grove, Hope, and Marion.