A challenging regular season will be coming to a close over the next week for the Yuma High School volleyball team.
The Outlaws, 8-13, are at rival Wray, 6-13, on Friday, and host Limon, 1-15, on Tuesday to conclude the regular season. It is looking possible they will qualify for regional as the entered this week No. 24 in the CHSAA 2A Selection & Seeding Index.
“For our last two regular season matches, we are looking to keep playing as a team and put everything together — serve receive, blocking, defense, and hitting,” coach Jamie Nighswonger said. “Both Wray and Limon are great teams and will prove to be strong opponents, so we need to make sure we play our game, and take care of the ball when it is on our side of the net.”
The Outlaws have played many of the top teams in 2A and 1A this season, including two more last week.
Yuma went to No. 1 Holyoke on Friday. The Dragons have lost only two 1A powers Fleming and Merino, and have two big Lower Platte matches this week at Sedgwick County and Wiggins.
The Outlaws went down in straight sets at Holyoke, 13-25, 19-25, 21-25.
Berkley Nighswonger had eight kills, Lauren Gonzales seven, Taryn Sheffield four, Lindsey Hermosillo two and Bryar Chrismer one. Bailey Nighswonger recorded 10 setting assists, and Audrey Black eight. The Outlaws did serve 98 percent. Berkley Nighswonger was 12-12, Sheffield 11-11 with one ace, Black 10-10 with one ace, Bailey Nighswonger 8-9, Gonzales 6-6, Chrismer 3-3 and Hermosillo 3-3.
The Outlaws hosted No. 9 Sedgwick County earlier last week in The Pit. They opened with an exciting 26-24 win, but dropped the next three sets, 19-25, 14-25, 23-25. Sheffield had 10 kills, Berkley Nighswonger nine, Gonzales eight, and Hermosillo seven. Bailey Nighswonger had 17 assists, Black 10, Berkley Nighswonger four, and Novalee Schuetz two. Black was 14-14 serving with two aces, Berkley Nighswonger 14-14, Hermosillo 13-14 with one ace, Sheffield 15-18 with two aces, Bailey Nighswonger 11-12 with one ace, and Gonzales 9-11.
“Sedge and Holyoke are two really great teams,” Nighswonger said. “We had a rough start against Sedge but were able to win set one. After that, we just couldn’t find our rhythm and ended up losing in four sets. Holyoke has great defense and a powerful offense, and while we fought them tough, especially in sets two and three, they beat us in three.”