Volleyball team finishes third at home meet

The Bearcat volleyball team finished in third place in their home tournament Sept. 9, going 3-2 for the day.

Starting off the day, the Cats played Nickerson. After losing in the first set to the Panthers 25-20, the team was determined to start the second set strong, which is just what they did. Ellsworth took control of the game and won the second set 25-14. However, both teams fought in the tie-breaking third set, and the Panthers came out on top. The score of the third set was 25-18.

The second match of the day ended in a victory over Republic County. Ellsworth won in two straight sets, 25-9 and 25-15.

Next, the Cats took on Sacred Heart. In a hardfought, back-and-forth match, the Cats came out on top in three sets. Ellsworth won the first 25-21, then the Knights took the second 28-26. Coming out strong in the final set, the Bearcats took the win, 25-15.

Ellsworth beat the Central Plains Oilers in two sets, 25-11 and 25-18.

In the final match of the day, the Cats took on the Ellinwood Eagles. Ellsworth won the first set 25-21, but the Eagles came back and won the second, 25-20. In the start of the third set, the Cats took a commanding lead. Despite the Bearcats at one time having an 8-point lead, the Eagles were able to fight back and take the win, 25-18. While the game started strong for the Bearcats, they struggled to keep the momentum going until the end.

“It really seemed as though we were trying not to lose instead of going ahead and finishing,” Head Coach Amy Johnson said. “This is just a mindset that we will continue to work on. Ellinwood is a very good team, ranked seventh in 2A. The girls played hard all day, and we definitely got better. Losing two close matches in three sets is tough, but we definitely learned a lot.”

The volleyball team will take on Little River tonight at home.

Heat moves cross country meet earlier

The Bearcat cross country team traveled to Hesston Sept. 8. Due to heat, the meet was moved earlier in the day and the race was shortened to 2 miles.

“Mentally and physically, it is tough to run a 2-mile race when you’ve prepped for a 5k (3.1 miles),” Head Coach Eric Coonrod said.

Freshman Molly Ehrlich medaled in 14th place in her age division with a time of 16:17 and sophomore Kate Rathbun medaled at 19th, running 17:17.

Junior Trenton Holmes took home a medal with a 2-mile time of 14:01.

“In spite of running a different race than we have all season, we still tried to learn a little bit about ourselves and a little bit about how we can run the next races of the season,” Coonrod said. “Overall, I was pleased, and we’re now looking at competing well at the Stafford/St. John’s invite Thursday (Sept. 14), which, overall, has been a good meet for us.”