Scott City volleyball sweeps their way to Oakley Invitational title
Oakley, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The Scott City Lady Beaver volleyball team wanted to put Thursday’s 1-2 performance at the GWAC quadrangular in Holcomb behind them. Playing in a new month and in a tournament for the first time, the Lady Beavers did just that. Saturday was as dominating of day they’ve had all year, if not in a long time. Scott City did not lose a set all day, going 10-0 in sets, and 5-0 in matches.
In pool play, Scott City started off the morning taking on the Quinter Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Beavers pulled away in the first set, and won 25-16. Quinter provided a little push in the second set, but Scott City prevailed again winning 25-20. Colby would be the next opponent for the Lady Beavers. Both matches played tight in the end, despite Scott City holding four to six-point leads in each set. The Lady Beavers won both sets by a 25-23 score. Knowing they were advancing as the top team out of pool play, Scott City did what they needed to do against a team that had not won a match in the day. They were never pushed by Triplains/Brewster, taking 25-15, 25-12 wins into the semi finals.
In their final match at the Impact Center, the host school Oakley would be the opponent. Just like their first meeting of the year, Scott City would see a fight early on from the Lady Plainsmen, but the Lady Beavers pulled away in each set, winning 25-17, 25-15. That set up a move to the high school for a match with the defending Class 1A, Division II State Champions in Wheatland/Grinnell.
Wheatland/Grinnell, ranked No. 1 in Class 1A, Division II, came off a three-set win over Quinter. Scott City started off a little slow, but picked it up at the end of the first set. The Lady Beavers built a 23-17, lead, only to see the Lady Thunderhawks go on a 9-2 run to get set point at 26-25. Scott City would score the final three points to take a 28-26 set one thriller. The second set proved to show that it was Scott City’s day. The Lady Beavers started out strong, forcing Wheatland/Grinnell to call two early timeouts. Scott City looked relentless, and poured it on, and took the second set 25-14, capping off a perfect day. Quinter swept Oakley 25-17, 25-14 in the third place match.
It was Scott City’s first Oakley Invitational Tournament championship since 2010. They are now 12-5 on the season. The 12 wins this year by Scott City matches the win total over the previous two seasons combined (5 in 2014, 7 in 2015).
Up next will be a Triangular in Holcomb on Tuesday, facing Southwestern Heights and Holcomb, a GWAC triangular on Thursday in Goodland, facing Colby and Goodland, and the Scott City Invitational on Saturday.
Coach Megan Gentry
