By Jim Misunas
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

LARNED — Larned High’s volleyball team saw state-quality teams against No. 1 ranked Class 3A Hillsboro and state-ranked Sterling. The Indians (6-20, 1-6 CKL) dropped both Central Kansas League matches to Hillsboro 25-13, 25-11 and Sterling 25-16, 25-8.
Sterling upset Hillsboro 25-18, 19-25, 25-21 to hand the Trojans their first loss of the season. Hillsboro (17-1), Sterling (15-5) and Hesston (15-2) are tied for first place in the CKL with 6-1 records.
Good teams pressure the other team into mistakes, and that’s exactly what happened to the Indians.
“We weren’t really outplayed. We gave away those games especially against Sterling,” said Larned coach Paul Deveaux. “Hillsboro was good, but mental mistakes kept it us out of it. We definitely beat ourselves today. As much as our home crowd was there and supportive, the girls just couldn’t find the drive or determination to hang in there.”
Deveaux said there were a few bright spots.
“Erin Smith was all over the court digging Hillsboro’s powerful hitter Alex Ratzlaff several times.  She also dug up just about everything Sterling threw at her, but it just wasn’t enough. Our hitters maintained some consistency, namely Ally Aldrich and Maci Perez.  Kelsey Parr was her normal self in hustling to every ball she could get to, but there’s only so much they could do.
“It was a bit of a rough night and we’re just going to have to regroup and come with it this Saturday at the Kingman Tournament.”

CKL VOLLEYBALL
Standings

Hillsboro    6-1    17-1
Hesston    6-1    15-2
Sterling    6-1    15-5
Kingman    4-3    18-9
Hoisington    4-3    16-10
Pratt    3-4    17-11
Smoky Valley    3-4    7-11
Lyons    3-4    6-17
Halstead    2-5    10-15
Haven    2-5    8-17
Nickerson    2-5    6-14
Larned    1-6    6-20

Tuesday’s matches
Sterling def. Larned, 25-16, 25-8; Sterling def. Hillsboro 25-18, 19-25, 25-21; Hillsboro def. Larned, 25-13, 25-11
Hesston def. Nickerson, 25-12, 25-13; Hesston def. Pratt, 25-19, 25-14; Pratt def. Nickerson, 25-17, 25-22
Haven def. Smoky Valley, 25-18, 25-8; Haven def. Hoisington, 25-21, 38-30, 25-23; Hoisington def. Smoky Valley, 23-25, 25-17, 27-25
Kingman def. Lyons, 25-23, 24-26, 25-16; Kingman def. Halstead, 25-13, 25-14; Lyons def. Halstead, 22-25, 25-23, 25-15