The Winside volleyball team opened the season strong, winning three in a row before falling to defending Class D-1 state champion Howells-Dodge.
On Thursday, the Wildcats opened with an exciting 3-2 win at Creighton, coming back from a two-set deficit to win 21-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-21 and 15-13.
The Wildcats got solid hitting at the net from senior Randee Haase, who recorded a career-high 21 kills and hit .293 for the night to lead a 40-kill effort by Winside.
Natalie Kruger followed with eight kills, Ellie Topp and four and Katelyn Jaeger picked up three for the winners. Kruger had 16 assists and Skylar Spann put up 11. Jerzi Carlson had five ace serves and Samantha Gubbels had three.
Defensively, Haase had eight blocks at the net. Carlson picked up a career-best 51 digs, Gubbels had 31, Jaeger had 16 and Kruger and Hadleigh Schutt each had 14.
In Saturday’s quadrangular, Winside swept Randolph (25-16, 25-8) and beat Hartington-Newcastle in three sets (14-25, 26-24, 27-25) and won the first before Howells-Dodge came back for the win (15-25, 25-21, 25-12).
In the win over Randolph, Haase and Kruger each had three kills and Schutt added two. Spann and Kruger both had four assists. Carlson led the defense with 16 digs.
Against Hartington-Newcastle, Haase had 17 kills, Schutt and Kruger both had five and Jaeger picked up four. Kruger had 17 assists and Spann added nine. Carlson had 23 digs, Kruger added 17, Spann had 15, Gubbels picked up 13 and Schutt had 12.
In the loss to Howells-Dodge, Haase had nine kills and Kruger added five. Kruger had 11 assists and Spann added four. Carlson had 21 digs, Gubbels added nine, Schutt had eight, Kruger had seven and Spann had six.
