GARDEN CITY — At the end of the Western Athletic Conference volleyball tournament, it was host Garden City that sat atop of the standings.
Great Bend placed third with wins over Dodge City and Liberal.
“To go into the tournament as the bottom seed and come out third was a good day for our ladies,” GBHS head coach Kelsey Perry said. “The chemistry is there now and with some wins you can feel the confidence in the team.”
Great Bend started things with a three-set win over Liberal.
“We started the day with a big win over Liberal, who is currently the No. 2 seed in our sub-state,” Perry said. “Beating them was a big confidence booster for our team. We needed that win to prove to ourselves that we can play with good teams.
“Knowing we could see them again next made beating them once even more important for our girls.”
After a loss to Hays, Great Bend got a win over Dodge City.
“We played Hays really close but we just couldn’t get a consistent block against them,” Perry said. “We gave them too many opportunities.
“We had beaten Dodge City earlier this year so we knew we could get another win. The girls were really focused and got it done in two pretty easy sets.”
The Lady Panthers lost to Garden City in three sets.
“We dropped the first match to Garden because we couldn’t get any momentum,” Perry said. “We kept trading one point for three and just weren’t consistent.
“The second set, we were down 5-14 and won. That is the first time this season we have been able to overcome deficit so that was a big win in that set. The third set we dug a quick hole at 0-8 and could not recover.”
Great Bend hosts a Class 5A sub-state tournament on Saturday.
“All we can do is keep that going for sub-state and give ourselves a chance,” Perry said. “We are probably going to be the 6 or 7 seed. To stay away from Newton, the No. 1 seed, would be good after that we feel it is wide open.
“Getting some confidence at WAC and hosting the sub-state tournament will be a big help in our quest to get back to the state tournament.”
The first round will start at 2 p.m.
HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL
Western Athletic Conference
Saturday
At Garden City
Team scores
1. Garden City; 2. Hays; 3. Great Bend; 4. Dodge City; 5. Liberal
Great Bend statistics
Against Liberal
Brittnee Barber — 26 Assists, 2 kills, 1 dig
Baylee Beck — 16 Digs
Braylin Bretz — 1 dig
Peyton Burkhart — 4 kills, 2 blocks, 1 dig
Camryn Dunekack — 8 kills, 1 block, 2 digs, 2 assists
Morgan Kottas — 6 digs, 1 assist, 10 kills
Lindsay Leuenburger — 4 digs
Regan Unruh — 7 digs, 2 assists, 6 kills, 1 block
Kate Warren — 7 kills, 4 blocks, 1 assists
Against Hays
Barber — 1 ace, 3 digs
Beck — 9 digs, 1 ace
Burkhart — 5 kills, 3 blocks
Dunekack — 2 kills
Kottas — 2 digs, 5 kills, 1 ace
Leuenburger — 1 dig
Unruh — 8 digs, 4 kills
Warren — 8 kills, 2 blocks
Against Dodge City
Barber — 1 kill, 1 dig, 19 assists
Beck — 1 ace, 10 digs
Burkhart — 1 assists, 2 kills, 1 block
Dunekack — 8 kills, 2 digs
Kottas — 1 assist, 4 kills, 2 blocks, 3 digs
Mauler — 5 digs
Unruh — 9 kills, 2 blocks, 6 digs, 1 ace
Against Garden City
Barber — 4 digs, 17 assists
Beck — 14 digs, 2 aces
Burkhart — 3 kills, 1 block, 1 dig
Dunekack — 5 kills, 1 block, 1 dig, 1 ace
Kottas — 2 assists, 4 kills, 1 block, 1 ace
Leuenburger — 4 digs
Unruh — 7 digs, 1 ace, 10 kills
Warren — 1 ace, 1 dig, 6 kills, 4 blocks
