Bluebird volleyball picks up four victories
By DELBERT PETERS
Sports writer
Goessel High School volleyball team competed Tuesday at Bennington for its first Heart of America League contest of the season.
In the first match, the Bluebirds hurt themselves with errors against Canton-Galva.
Goessel won the first game 25-20, but then could not finish game two and lost 25-23. In the final game, again the Bluebirds could not consistently score and lost, 25-19.
After the disappointment, Goessel rallied to beat the host school, Bennington, in game one, 25-21.
The second game was similar to the Canton-Galva one, and the Bluebirds lost 26-24.
However, Goessel played close again and this time won the match with a 26-24 win in game three.
"The Bennington win in three games was a big match for us," head coach Crysta Guhr said.
The third match of the evening was against Hutch Trinity.
"Trinity is very strong in every position," said Guhr.
Goessel lost 25-18 in both games.
Aspen Frey recorded 21 kills and 22 digs in the eight games. Jessica Goertzen notched 44 assists. As a team, the Bluebirds recorded 23 aces as they served well all night.
Goessel Round Robin
"Our youthfulness shows up in tournaments like today," said Coach Guhr during Saturday's invitational tournament at Goessel. "We are definitely gaining experience and improving, but we still have a lot of girls who just don't have very many games of experience."
In the first of five matches, Goessel lost a close contest with Sedgwick 25-22, 25-20.
In both games, Sedgwick led most of the time with Goessel catching up, but letting Sedgwick take the lead again.
Against Burrton, the Bluebirds played much better and won 25-15, 25-17.
In another close match, Goessel lost to Remington 28-26, 20-25, 16-25.
Goessel led in game one 24-19 but could not finish efficiently as the Broncos scored five straight points.
In game two with the score tied at 19, the Broncos outscored the Bluebirds 6-1 to finish the game.
Goessel entered the consolation bracket against Halstead, hoping for several wins and a good finish to a long day.
This time the Bluebirds outscored the Dragons 8-1 to win game one, 25-17, and in the second game Goessel held off a Halstead rally and won, 25-21.
In their final match, the Bluebirds pulled away from the team from South Haven by scores of 25-18, 25-18.
The victory allowed the Bluebirds to claim fifth place out of eight schools at the tournament.
Karis Janzen and Rinda Duerksen had success as middle hitters.
Goertzen played a stellar role as setter. Katie Flaming, Frey and Kendra Flaming hit from the outside.
Karina Harvey and Jennifer Raymond contributed on defense and many players, including Amy Brubaker served well for the Bluebird team.
At the end of the week, the Bluebirds now claim an overall record of 5-6 and a league record of 1-2. Last year, in 34 matches, the Bluebirds only went three games four times. This year Goessel has already had four matches go the maximum number of games.
Goessel was at home Tuesday with matches against Remington and Inman.
Saturday, the Bluebirds will travel to Tescott for a tournament of mostly 1A and 2A schools.
