Lady Bobcats finish strong at divisionals

Volleyball divisionals flew into Superior last week and the competition heated up on the courts from Thursday through Friday. The home team played against Eureka on Thursday. Fans packed the gym decked out in red, white and blue. The team’s teddy bear even had a seat in the front row.

The girls played their first match against Eureka at noon on Thursday. The first game was quick and easy for the girls. The Lady Bobcats hit the nets fast and hard, winning the first game 25-14. Despite an early lead in the second game, the girls ended up playing point for point and lost 20-25. The Eureka Lions had woken up and they also took the next two leaving the Lady Bobcats behind 23-25 and 14-25.

“The first game was awesome,” said Kinsy Cox, head coach. “The girls came out and played. We had never played Eureka and we didn’t know what to expect. It actually works better when we don’t know what to expect.”

Cox said that by the second, third and fourth games, Eureka had stepped up their play and started to fight hard for the match win.

“And we hesitated a lot and that was the falling point for us,” Cox said.

During the match against Eureka, Ashley Blaylock hit 14 kills for Superior and served five aces. Kaitlynn Koke had eight blocks at the net. Kinzie Cooper and Nicole Stroot grabbed ten digs apiece. Rhandy Cox set 14 assists for the team. The team totaled 33 kills to Eureka’s 38 and out-dug the Lions 40 to 38.

The crowd rallied behind their team and the girls moved into Friday with a match against Troy, who had lost to Florence on Thursday. A spot in the consolation bracket was up for grabs with the loser leaving the competition.

The first game against Troy was a bit rough for the girls and they ended up losing 17-25. The second game was worse and the home team lost 12-25. In the third game, the girls game back with a stronger game, but Troy had already clenched victory. They lost the third game of the match 22-25.

“Troy had a couple of girls that just never let anything hit the floor,” Cox said. “They were intense and they always did their job. They are a very well trained team.”

Superior actually beat Troy twice when they played them at the Troy Tournament earlier in the season.

“Our girls just hesitated again,” Cox said. “They didn’t go all out.”

Despite the loss, some of the team’s younger members had a really huge match. Stroot, who is a sophomore, hit 100 percent, meaning that all of her hits resulted in a kill on the ball. She had a total of 15 in the match against Troy.

“She was on top of her game,” Cox said.

Rhandy Cox, also another sophomore, ended up as a leader in the number of assists she’s set for the team. The coach said that Rhandy has had the most assists the last few games that she’s played. Cooper, another sophomore, has been doing huge things in terms of digging balls for the team.

“The younger girls just step up,” Cox said. “I’ve seen a huge improvement. It’s nice to see them doing well at a young age. They’re already competing against juniors and seniors on other teams and being better than some of them.”

Also in the match against Troy, Cary Chamberlain set 12 assists, Koke and Kelsey Stenberg had six blocks a piece and Koke grabbed seven digs. The team had three aces. With their goals accomplished, Cox said that she felt the team ended the season well overall.

“Our big goal was to play at divisionals since we were hosting them and we reached it,” Cox said. “We also wanted to play the best we could in terms of ability and the sophomores did. They ended the season playing the best games they have played. We only won two games last year and we were up to 14 this year so that’s a huge improvement.”

She said that it was a little disappointing finishing at divisionals with only two matches played, knowing that they could have potentially gone farther.

Cox said that her favorite moments from the season were back at the beginning when everything was clicking early on. She said that toward the end at districts was also a highlight.

“Districts were good for us,” Cox said. “We played awesome. It was nice to finish third.”

The team only loses two seniors next year and will retain its starters. Cox said that they just have plans to continue to improve.