HUMBOLDT — Intensity was high for Humboldt High’s Lady Cubs throughout a six-match day at Saturday’s Humboldt High’s B&W Trailer Hitches Volleyball Invitational.
That high level of intensity brought a second-place finish and medals for the hometown team. They lone loss of the day came at the hands of the Waverly High Bulldogs. The Lady Cubs and Bulldogs battled for three sets in the fifth match of the day.
Waverly won 25-20, 21-25, 25-13. The Bulldogs went undefeated in the tournament to take the championship. Humboldt finished its run with a 26-24, 25-20 win over Pittsburg St. Mary’s-Colgan High’s Panthers.
“We started the day with a lot of intensity and made a statement,” said Stephanie Splechter, Humboldt head coach. “When we played Waverly, we learned that we could play at a high level. In the third set of that match, Waverly had a good server get on a run and we struggled with serve receive.”
Pleasanton won the silver pool and Marmaton Valley High’s Wildcats was the first-place team in the bronze pool.
With just nine teams in the 2012 tournament, it was structured differently with three-team pools — teams were seeded into a second set of pools then a third set of pools.
“The best stat of the day: as a team we served 94 percent for the day,” Splechter said. “The win over Colgan was huge for us. We have a tendency to have a mental block when it comes to Colgan.
“We took big leads in both sets and let them back in but we pulled up our boot straps and got the job done.”
Humboldt opened the tournament with a 25-2, 25-10 win over Kansas City Metro Academy. Rachel Taylor served 21 points in the match for the Lady Cubs.
Twenty-one was a big number for the Lady Cubs in their next match, a 25-13, 25-2 win over Altoona-Midway. Sheri Middleton had 21 service points, including six aces. Anna Setter had 21 set assists. Haley Riebel served up 11 points.
Next up was Marmaton Valley for the Lady Cubs. Humboldt won 25-15, 25-11. Middleton had eight service points, two ace serves and eight kills in the match. Breanna Kline served up eight points and Kayle Riebel had seven service points, six kills and two blocks.
“I thought this match was a critical point. We kept our intensity and got the job done,” Splechter said.
Humboldt defeated Pleasanton 25-19, 25-23. Taylor had nine points from the service line and Kayle Riebel had eight points. Taylor also came up with five digs and Setter had 10 set assists.
Then came the Waverly match. Kline and Middleton led the Lady Cubs’ net attack all day and against the Bulldogs they each had seven kills. Middleton had four blocks. Setter had 22 set assists.
For the day, Middleton delivered 34 kills and racked up 21 blocks at the net while Kline had 32 kills. Kayle Riebel put down 31 kills and made eight blocks.
