Titans sweep Manson-Northwest Webster on Senior Night
Regardless of sport, the Battle of Calhoun County – the rivalry between South Central Calhoun and Manson-Northwest Webster – is known as a showcase of intrigue and talent rising to the occasion.
This time around, the latest bout on the volleyball court between the Titans and the Cougars was one sided. The side that prevailed in this rivalry match was the squad decked in purple, black and white.
The South Central Calhoun volleyball team proved too much for their competition, cruising past Manson-Northwest Webster by way of a 3-0 decision in a Twin Lakes Conference clash that took place last Thursday evening at the SCC High School Gymnasium in Lake City.
SCC jumped out to a comfortable lead in the first set and never looked back against the Cougars, winning the match with scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-12.
From the victory, the Titans extended their recent winning streak to three matches and improved to 24-11 overall with a 9-1 mark in the TLC. The Cougars fell to 6-8 overall with a 3-7 record in TLC play.
The Titans also remain within striking distance of a regular season title, trailing conference leader East Sac County (20-6, 10-0 TLC) by one game.
SCC will have their chance at claiming another regular season conference crown, facing off against the No. 13-ranked (Class 2A) Raiders at 7 p.m. on Thursday evening at the ESC High School Gymnasium in Lake View.
The Titans will also look to avenge a loss sustained in their previous meeting with East Sac County earlier this season, which took place during the “Master Blaster” Tournament on Sept. 14 in Rockwell City.
Live updates from the match will be posted on The Graphic-Advocate’s Facebook page and on Twitter at “@Tyler_Liger” and “@GraphicAdvocate.”
Before the match started, South Central Calhoun honored its senior team members in Kinsey Batz, Kayla Grummon, Emma McKinney, Madie Schultz, Haley Stauter and team manager Kilynn Westcott.
Following a back-and-forth battle to begin the first set, both sides were tied at 3-3. SCC responded with an 11-1 run to take a pronounced 14-4 lead. From there, it was all Titans, who went on to win the first game with a 25-12 decision.
In game two, the Titans built up a 9-1 lead, before the Cougars put together a 3-0 run. This cut the SCC advantage down to 9-4, until the Titans established a clear advantage at 16-6.
Even though the Cougars narrowed the deficit down to six points at 18-12, SCC took a two-game lead by winning the second set by a score of 25-16.
The final set saw the Titans and Cougars exchange blows early on. When the dust settled, SCC held a 6-5 lead before going on a 4-0 run to prompt a Manson-Northwest Webster timeout.
Leading 10-5, the Titans never allowed the Cougars to get close than six points, as SCC extended its lead to 19-11. A final 6-1 run by the Titans then sealed a 25-12 victory to take home their fifth win in six matches.
McKinney led the charge for the Titans, compiling 11 kills, 11 assists, four service aces, three digs and one block. Next up was freshman hitter Riley Batta, who dished up 10 kills, 13 assists, eight digs, three blocks and one ace.
Senior Haley Stauter brought out her shovel, putting up 11 digs alongside two kills and one ace. Schultz was a serving machine when it came against the Cougars, leaving the match with four service aces.
Sophomore Sayer Steig logged in two kills, one assist, one dig and two blocks, while junior libero Emma Geno tallied one assist, two digs and two aces.
Junior Laci Riedesel contributed to the winning cause with two kills, one assist and three digs, as fellow classmate Kortney Riley came away with two kills and three digs.
Batz had nine digs against Manson-Northwest Webster, as Grummon rounded out the stats sheet with one dig and one assist. Junior Sally Musselman also had playing time during the match.
