Lady Buffs Volleyball Loses to Maize for State Tournament Berth

Garden City, KS (www.westernkansasnews.com) – For the 2nd straight year the Garden City Lady Buffs Vollebyall team lost in the Sub-State Championship game, this time to Maize at home and failed to make the 6A State Tournament. Hosting their own Sub-State Tournament with two teams advancing to the State Championships, the Lady Buffs would be the #3 seed in Bracket (B) while Maize was selected the #2 seed. In Bracket (A) it was the Wichita Northwest Lady Grizzlies collecting the #1 seed and Hutchinson at #4.

In Bracket (B) the Lady Buffs faced 7-22 Wichita North in the semi-final game disposing the Indians in straight sets 25-10, 25-10. Maize handled the 8-27 Wichita South team easy 25-12, 25-7 setting up the title match with Garden City and Lady Eagles. In the final match it was hard fought all the way through set one with several lead changes and Garden City had their chances to take the first set, but the Lady Eagles found the momentum they needed to win 28-26 and then blasted through set two 25-12 over the Lady Buffs to gain the State Tournament berth.

In Bracket (A) #1 Wichita Northwest beat Campus easily 25-22, 25-14, while #4 Hutchinson struggled with Dodge City but eventually won in straight sets 25-22, 25-19 setting up the Championship match for the Lady Grizzlies and the Lady Salthawks. This was a battle that went three sets with Hutchinson getting set one 25-19, but Wichita Northwest battled back to take the final two sets 25-9 and 25-20. Both Wichita Northwest and Maize have punched their tickets to the 6A State Championships next weekend at the Expocentre in Topeka. The Garden City Lady Buffs concluded their season as the Western Athletic Conference Champs for the 2nd year in a row and overall finishing their season at 19-15.