Scott City, Ulysses pick up two wins at GWAC tri/quad

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The second of three GWAC triangular/quadrangulars took place on Thursday at Scott Community High School. For Hugoton and Ulysses, it would wrap up their first half of GWAC play, while Holcomb and Scott City, it was their GWAC opener. After the matches were played, both Scott City and Ulysses picked up two wins, and the Lady Tigers went undefeated on the day, while the Lady Beavers went 2-1. Holcomb picked up one win, knocking off Hugoton, while dropping two matches to Ulysses and Scott City. Hugoton went winless in their two matches.

The first match of the day featured Scott City and Ulysses. The match would see eight ties and seven lead changes throughout. Ulysses jumped out early to a 7-2 lead, only to see Scott City rally for a 11-3 run to lead 13-11 midway through the first set. The Lady Tigers woudl counter with a 9-1 run and never look back, and took the first set 25-18. In set two, it looked like the Lady Beavers were going to force a third set. A 10-2 Scott City run gave them a 13-5 lead. Ulysses would come back, and come back in a flurry. The No. 5 team in Class 4A showed why they’ve lost just one match this year, as they closed the set and match out ona 20-4 run, and took a 25-17 second set win.

Holcomb and Hugoton would be the next two to take the court. It would be the only time of the day where a match went to three sets. In set one, after both teams went back and forth early on, Holcomb used a 7-2 run to take a 12-7 lead. Hugoton would climb bck to within 17-15, before the Lady Longhorns closed out the set with an 8-2 run to win 25-17. In the second set, Holcomb jumped out early 4-1, only to see a 5-1 Lady Eagle run. It would go back and forth, and midway through the second set, it was tied at 12. From then on, Hugoton used a 7-0 run to lead 19-12, and eventually closed the set out with a 5-2 run to force a third set with a 25-17 win. In the third set, the Lady Longhorns jumped out early 5-2, only to see Hugoton go up 7-5. From then on, Holcomb took control and never looked back. A 12-2 run put them up 18-9, and they would close out the third set and match with a 6-2 run to win 25-14.

It was Hugoton and Scott City in the third match of the day. The Lady Beavers jumped out quickly to a 9-1 lead, and really never were pushed. Hugoton could only get it as close as seven, as Scott City used several mini-runs, and closed the first set with a 6-1 run to win 25-12. After the Lady Eagles led early in the second set 3-2, the Lady Beavers went on a 5-0 run. Hugoton got to within one point on three occasions, but Scott City would gradually pull away. After the Lady Eagles got to within 14-12 midway through the second set, the Lady Beavers closed the set and match out on an 11-1 run to win 25-13.

Ulysses would match up with Holcomb in the next match. This won would see the Lady Tiger jump out to an early 6-1 lead. Hoclomb made one threat, pulling to within 6-4 in the first set, only to see Ulysses counter with four straight points. The Lady Tigers led 24-12 before the Lady Longhorns scored the next four points and the final would eventally go to Ulysses’ favor 25-16. After both teams went back and forth early in the second set, the Lady Tigers used a 12-3 run to go up 15-7 midway through the second set. Holcomb made one final push after Ulysses pushed their lead to 21-10. The Lady Longhorns put together an 8-1 run to get to within 22-18, only to see the Lady Tigers close the set and match with three straight to take it 25-18.

In the final match of the day, Scott City and Holcomb would play their third matches of the day. The first set would see two ties, as the Lady Beavers never trailed in the opening set. After it was tied at nine, Scott City blew the set wide open with a 14-2 run to go up 23-11. The teams would trade points to close it out with the Lady Beavers winning 25-13. In the second set, Scott City jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. They would never trail in the second set either and looked about as efficient as they have all season. The closest the Lady Longhorns got was 9-4. Scott City went on an 8-2 run to lead 17-6 in the second set. Holcomb would score the next four points to pull to within 17-10, but the Lady Beavers closed things out with eight of the final 11 points of the set and match to win 25-13.

Ulysses improved to 22-1 overall after Thursday and 5-0 in the GWAC. They’ll compete in the Andover Tournament on Saturday. Scott City is now 9-6 on the season, 2-1 in GWAC play. They’ll head to the Oakley Invitational on Saturday. Holcomb dropped to 11-12 on the season, and 1-2 in league play, as they’ll head to the Southwestern Heights Invitational on Saturday. Hugoton is 6-22 on the season. They’ll have a week off before hosting a triangular next Thursday.

Ulysses Coach Jill Scott