On Oct. 14 the Panthers’ freshman team took on the Plateau Valley Cowboys.
The Panthers played Olathe at home Oct. 14. Above, sophomore Ashlynn Ducey. | MATT SCOGGINS PHOTO
Fighting hard the Panthers made the Cowboys fight to three sets before they ran out of energy. The Panthers lost the first set 21-25. Fighting hard in the second the Panthers came back to win 25-22. This led to a third match where the Cowboys wrangled up a little more strength and beat the Panthers 13-15.
The team was led in serves by Kaelyn Geer and Audy Ryder. Chloe Noel led the team in kills with six followed by Aaleigha Donovan with four. Passing was led by Geer and Zoie Britt.
As the varsity game began, Rangely needed to find their rhythm. The Panthers had one of the better serving games it has had in a while. Kaitlyn Cox led with three aces, and Kyrah Phelps added in two aces. Annika Cantrell led the Panthers in kills with nine, Miley Chism had eight kills, and Phelps and Lexi LeBleu added six kills each. Karlee Halcomb and Cox did a great job moving the ball around to all hitters. Defensively the Panthers played very well. Emmeree Wagner led the team in blocks with four and Annika Cantrell had three. Phelps led with 16 digs, while Miley Chism and Cox had 10 digs a piece.
On Oct. 15 the Olathe Pirates came to town. The Panthers beat the Pirates 25-12 in set one. Set two was a different outcome with the Pirates beating the Panthers 17-25. It was all up to the last set for the teams to battle it out for who was going to jump ship first. With a lot of heart the Panthers threw the Pirates overboard, beating them in the third set 18-16. Courtney Files led the team in serves with five aces. Noel and Donovan led the team in kills each with six. Geer and Ryder led the team in passing and digs. The Panthers knew Olathe was going to be a competitive game. Varsity edged out the Pirates in four sets. All sets could have gone either way, but the Panthers fought through adversity and united to play hard. Phelps led the team 17 kills, Cantrell added 14 kills and LeBleu chipped in 13.
“Even though the Pirates played smart, our defense did a great job picking up most of what was hit at them,” said coach Marybel Cox. LeBleu and Wagner led with five blocks each and Cantrell added three. An all-team effort contributed to all the digs that were dug by Phelps, Emma Smith, Kristiana Terry, Chism, Ashlynn Ducey, Cox and Halcomb.
Coach Cox stated that it was a great weekend for the girls, they played hard and had fun. The Panthers will take on Soroco at home on Friday night, which is also the Pink Out game. Come out and support the Panthers.
Special to the Herald Times
