Sports writer
Goessel High School Bluebirds played familiar competition this week in volleyball.
GHS traveled to Remington Tuesday for non-league matches with Peabody and Remington.
Peabody managed to stay close through the first half of set one. Goessel led, 7-6, and then began to score two points for every one point that the Warriors earned. The Bluebirds scored six straight points at the end of the game to win, 25-13.
In the second set Peabody had a 10-9 lead, but the score was tied 13-13. The Bluebirds tried to gain the advantage but the game remained close with Goessel leading 18-17. From that point, the Bluebirds outscored the Warriors 7-1 to finish the match with a 25-18 win.
The Bluebirds were hoping for strong finishes against Remington. Goessel got ahead, 12-9, but when Remington took the lead at 15-14, the Bluebirds called timeout. Remington stayed ahead by two or three points the rest of the game winning, 25-20.
In the second set, again the Bluebirds found themselves ahead, 13-10, but the Broncos managed to gain the momentum and tied the score, 16-16, and then outscored the Bluebirds 9-3 to win the match, 25-19.
In the Heart of America League Tournament on Saturday, Goessel’s first opponent was Remington. The two teams battled for the fifth time this season with the Broncos winning the first four meetings. Goessel jumped out to a 6-2 lead but the Broncos tied the score at 9-9 and then the Bluebirds gained the advantage, 19-16. Remington outscored the Bluebirds, 6-1, and Goessel had to dig in to score five straight points. This time the Bluebirds won the first set, 25-22. Remington never trailed even though the score was tied at 18-18 and won the second set, 25-18, forcing a deciding third set.
The evenly matched teams went into the third set with 15 ties. Remington led by as many as three points several times, but Goessel’s biggest lead came at the end of the game, 28-26.
Goessel lost to the No. 1 seed Inman, 19-25, in the first set. The second set was close all the way, with the Bluebirds coming from behind to get as close as 22-23, but Inman ended up winning the match 25-22.
The Bluebirds then defeated Ell Saline for the fifth time this season, 25-18, 25-11. Remington defeated Inman causing a three-way tie in pool play, and Goessel did not advance to bracket play in the tournament.
The regular season ended with Goessel owning a 25-9 record. The Bluebirds will be in Herington Saturday for the 2A sub-state tournament with three games in pool play and then bracket play for the top two teams in each pool.