‘It will be fun to see what happens at state’
Contributing writer
The Goessel Bluebirds volleyball team added two more wins to its season record by defeating Pretty Prairie and Flint Hills High School on Saturday evening. Pretty Prairie defeated Burrton to advance to the semifinal game. Flint Hills defeated Hartford and then upset Centre to make it to the championship game with Goessel.
Against the Bulldogs, Goessel jumped out to a 7-2 lead but the visitors would have the game tied at 16. Six consecutive points were scored by the Bluebirds with Makayla King serving; Alicen Meysing and Erin Brubaker got two kills in the process. Goessel won the set 25-18.
In the second set, it was all Bluebirds. Page Hiebert slammed several kills, Shelby Stultz and Makayla King played tough in the back row, and Olivia Duerksen and Gentry Thiesen put up defense along the net. The Bluebirds rolled to a 25-9 victory to advance to the finals.
After three sets against Centre, Flint Hills emerged as the opponent for the Bluebirds. In the middle part of the first set, Goessel began pulling ahead on Hiebert’s power and Meysing’s shots from the middle. The Bluebirds led 15-9 and finished comfortably ahead 25-15. In the second set, mistakes by the Bluebirds allowed the Mustangs to take a 14-8 lead.
Goessel fans anticipated a comeback, but Flint Hills remained ahead 22-18. A serving error by the Mustangs gave the ball back to the Bluebirds trailing 23-21. Alyssa Booton served two balls in the middle of the court that could not be returned and the Bluebirds had tied the game at 23. Each team fighting for control pushed the score to a tie at 26. King served two balls that Flint Hills failed to return to give the Bluebirds a 28-26 victory and the sub-state championship.
“Earlier in the season, we were not able to come back like we did tonight in the second set,” coach Crysta Guhr said. “This will be a fun state tournament. None of these girls have played there before and they are so competitive, it will be fun to see what happens. We will do some scouting of other teams, but the important thing is that we need to take care of things on our side of the court.”
“I am so proud of our team, we are so young and we came together for a great season,” King said.
Brubaker, who had suited up at state two years ago as a freshman, agreed.
“This is an awesome feeling to make it to state,” Brubaker said.
The Bluebirds enter the state tournament with a 32-8 record and the fifth seed. They will play Spearville, Caldwell, and Lacrosse in pool play on Friday, starting at 9:30 am.