Valley girls rise to win five-set thrillers

CURTIS, Neb. — Opening-night drama dominated area volleyball as Medicine Valley and Southern Valley both rallied for five-set victories on Thursday.

The Medicine Valley Raiders went toe-to-toe with Maxwell’s Wildcats through a wild season opener.

Both teams traded momentum along with set victories.

Medicine Valley finally prevailed behind 13 kills apiece from senior Alex Ellermeier and sophomore Acelyn Klein.

Senior Taylor Fugate hustled to 16 digs while delivering five ace serves in the 18-25, 25-12, 25-16, 16-25, 15-12 triumph.

It was quite a debut for coach Diane Klein’s newest Raider team. Freshman Kaylnn Roblee crushed five kills during her first high school match.

The Raiders kept Maxwell off-balance all match thanks to 14 ace serves.

Besides Fugate’s five, Ellermeier (three) and senior Sydney Veldhuizen (two) served another five.

Sophomores Jessa Bailey and Klein added two aces each.

Bailey delivered 27 assists as the Raiders’ new No. 1 setter. Acelyn Klein (12 digs), Bailey (11) and Fugate (10) all reached double figures in digs.

Southern Valley returned from consecutive state tournament appearances to down the Elwood Pirates in five.

Unfortunately, no other details were available at press time from Elwood.

The Hitchcock County Falcons didn’t need five sets for its opening win Thursday night.

New Falcon/former Cambridge Trojan Shaye Porter pummeled 14 kills to lead a 25-12, 25-23, 25-5 sweep of visiting Arapahoe in their opener at Trenton.

Porter and senior Kyleigh Scott made 17 digs apiece to fuel the Falcons’ floor defense.

Senior Allison Hoyt served a team-high 24 points including three aces and set up 34 assists.

Junior Neleigh Hauxwell’s three aces (19 points) were another Hitchcock highlight.

Senior Joslyn North drilled four kills and classmate Chloe Carlson clobbered three for Arapahoe (0-1).

Senior Mariah Watson took charge with two stuff blocks.

Juniors Lauren Bahe and Caitlyn McCorkle made a team-leading 10 digs each. Bahe added six assists. Watch for more volleyball results in Monday’s Gazette.