Lady Bobcats fall to Mission, Florence

The Lady Bobcats had slow games on the volleyball courts last week, but the games moved at a fast pace. They played Mission on Tuesday at home and then traveled to Florence on Saturday, losing both games in three sets.

The girls might have lost at Mission, but they didn’t let the match go without a fight. They went 23-25, 23-25 and 17-25 during the match. The Lady Bobcats had beaten Mission earlier in the season, and so it was a game they knew they should be able to win.

During the match, Kelsey Stenberg had five kills at the net for Superior and Kaitlynn Koke had two blocks. Cary Chamberlain set 11 of the Bobcat’s 12 assists and also had nine digs on the night. Superior had two aces as Chamberlain took one and Nicole Stroot took the other.

“We played well,” Coach Kinsy Cox said. “It was a nonleague game and so we wanted to save a lot of our energy because we had to turn around and play a league game.”

Cox said Kaitlynn Koke ended up getting injured during the game and it was a good experience to see how the girls would handle it.

“It hurt us a bit, but it was also good to see the replacement, Melinda Steinbach go in and do a great job,” Cox said. “It was a good experience for them.”

At Florence, the girls also lost the match, losing three games in a row. The first game, however, was a fierce fight and the Lady Bobcats nearly clenched a victory. They ended up losing 27-29. They lost 18-25 in the second game and 12-25 in the third game.

Cox said Superior led the first two games, but when it came right down to it they couldn’t finish the game.

“When we were three points away and the game was ending, we were like, ‘don’t lose, don’t screw this up,’” Cox said. “We needed to be playing to win. We did pretty well in the first two and it was one of these times when we played out game, played our great game, but it changed toward the end. We weren’t worse off, but instead of taking it into our hands we hoped that the other team would make a mistake.”

Cox said coming out of the game against Florence the girls will be spending some time in practice focusing on how to win a game and becoming finishers.

“I think the girls will learn from this,” Cox said.

Stenberg led the team with five kills for the Lady Bobcats and had two blocks at the net. She also had eight digs. Chamberlain set all 12 of Superior’s assists and Ashley Blaylock had two aces for the team.

The girls played on Tuesday against Superior. Cox said they’re excited for the game as its homecoming week.

“[Superior] beat us last year,” Cox said. “I’m not sure what to expect, but were just going to try and get everyone some playing time and see what happens. We’re excited.”