The Fort Calhoun volleyball team earned considerable leads in all but one of its four sets with Raymond Central on Thursday.
Before playing three matches Saturday at Tekamah-Herman, the Pioneers (6-8 overall) played ahead of the Mustangs at home, but lost 22-25, 25-23, 25-19 and 25-19.
“I think we kind of let off the gas pedal at the wrong moments and didn't recover fast enough,” FCHS coach Liz Sevcik said.
Her team jumped ahead of Raymond Central 11-4 during the first set of its homecoming week match. Senior Grace Genoways had a pair of ace serves during the run, while Shelby Dorau and Madison Buczkowski teamed up for a block to cap it.
“Especially in that first set, I think that was some of the best blocking we've seen, probably, all year,” Sevcik said. “They were getting a lot of touches on the ball. They were really closing up, shutting that down, which really helped us in that first set.”
Even so, though, a scoring slump cost Calhoun its advantage. The Mustangs went on a 16-5 run, forcing the home team into a timeout down 20-16.
The Pioneers came back, though.
First, Buczkowski beat a block to pull her squad within three. Dorau's block then produced just a 20-18 deficit.
FCHS kills by Raegen Wells and Dorau led to a 21-21 tie before setter Olivia Quinlan quickly tapped the ball over for a one-point advantage. Mollie Dierks' back row kill — set up by a diving Quinlan, who saved the point — pushed that lead to two as Ruby Garmong's serve streak built.
Sevcik said multiple things had to go right to produce the first set comeback.
“I think it's getting the right people serving, not missing our serves,” she said. “It's also playing smart volleyball and communication. When we're communicating, we're playing a lot better.”
Unfortunately for a large home crowd on Fort Calhoun Youth Sports Organization Night, the visitors from Raymond Central were better over the next three sets. Abbey Lienemann, Dorau and Wells notched kills early during the second set to produce a 9-6 lead, but the Mustangs won 25-23.
Raymond then led throughout the third set before Lienemann, Wells and Buczkowski attacks produced an early, 6-3 lead in the fourth. Another slump cost the Pioneers, though, as the road squad built a 20-11 advantage.
FCHS fought back as Dierks' ace cut their disadvantage to 22-18, but it wasn't enough. The Mustangs won 3-1 despite standout efforts from multiple Pioneer contributors.
“Buczkowski was hustling her butt off on that save and a couple others where she was just everywhere,” Sevcik said, recounting highlights from the match.
She said Dorau made smart plays at the net, too.
“They both stood out,” the coach continued. “Abbey had a nice hitting game tonight, too. That was good to see.”
Fort Calhoun just didn't have enough Thursday to beat Raymond Central at home.
“Hope we can get everybody firing at once,” Sevcik said. “That would be great.”
Pioneers go 1-2 at Tekamah
FCHS finished fourth Saturday during a Tekamah-Herman tournament.
The Pioneers beat Omaha Roncalli first before 2-0 losses to both Bancroft-Rosalie and the host Tigers. They beat the Pride by a pair of tight sets, 25-22 and 25-21, before also playing close sets in defeat.
Coach Sevcik's squad lost a 29-27 second set to Bancroft and a 25-23 second set to Tekamah.
Calhoun next plays Thursday against Ashland-Greenwood. The home varsity match begins at 7 p.m.
