Ulysses volleyball spoils Lady Beavers home opener

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Two GWAC foes met up Thursday night in Scott City for a dual between two squads who were undefeated. Ulysses, the veteran team, came in with a 6-0 record, having dropped only one set, and carried a No. 9 ranking in Class 4A, Division I. On the other side of the net was 2-0 Scott City, who is still fairly young on experience on the varsity level, and playing in their first match in nearly two weeks.

While Ulysses pulled away from the first set, while the next two sets went tooth and nail, going Tigers way in a 25-16, 25-21, 25-23 victory. While Scott City lost the match, the team with only two returning starters put the rest of the GWAC on notice with their effort.

The first set was close early on. Both teams would trade leads, until about the midway of the first set. Scott City had a 10-8 lead in the first set. After that, it was pretty much all Ulysses. The Tigers would close out the set on a 17-6 run to coast to a 25-16 win.

In the second set, an energized Scott City team went toe-to-toe with the Lady Tigers. Both teams traded leads, and the last tie would be at 20 apiece. Following that, Ulysses closed out the second set on a 5-1 run to win the set 25-21.

It would be the Lady Beavers scoring the first two points of the third set and led for a majority of the third set. Scott City would have a 17-15 lead when Ulysses would get a kill to pull to within a point. After that, Ulysses standout Riley Oglevie would leave the game after landing awkwardly after a kill. The match would be tied at 17, and you could feel the air leave the room. As any experienced team fighting some adversity would do, the Lady Tigers regrouped and took a 22-18. However, Scott City rallied for four straight to tie the set at 22. Ulysses called a timeout, and responded by closing out the set and match with three of the final four points to leave with a 25-23 win.

Ulysses improves to 7-0 on the season, and will play at a triangular in Liberal. Scott City drops to 2-1 on the year, and will be at a quadrangular at Goodland on Tuesday.

Scott City Coach Shelby Kite