SCHULENBURG — Lady Cardinals volleyball started their postseason push with a big win against Great Hearts Northern Oaks High School Oct. 30 at Shorthorns Gym of Schulenburg by a final score of 25-5, 25-7, 257. Great Hearts was overmatched by a lethal Columbus team and it showed in the score as the Lady Cardinals’ offense couldn’t be stopped. “One game at a time,” said Columbus head volleyball coach Kayley Johns. “Stay focused on the game at hand. This was the game we had to be focused on right now and we’ve got big goals, but they know it’s really important to stay focused one game at a time right now.”
Columbus senior outside hit- ter Ally Tribe notched 12 kills for the night and led the attack once again. “Just playing as a team,” Tribe said on the game plan. “We knew it might be easy. We just had to play our game and stay composed and not play down to anyone’s level. We knew that if we played our game, we would win. That’s where we are now.
We’re excited for next round.”
The Lady Cardinals had a 9-0 lead in the first set after an ace from senior middle blocker Ember Mandola. Columbus then scored 10 points in a row on a few kills, a few tip balls, and a couple aces to make it 22-4. A kill from Mandola and an illegal hit from Great Hearts led to a set winning kill from Tribe at 25-5.
A little closer start to the sec- ond set made way for a 5-4 score board in favor of Columbus after a kill from Great Hearts. The Lady Cardinals went on to surge ahead 10-4 on an ace from Tribe, a kill from senior middle blocker Claire Klausmeyer, and a couple mistakes from Great Hearts.
Columbus kept their foot on the gas and continued to put the ball down on the opposite side of the floor, which included a kill from junior outside hitter Taylor Morrow and a kill from Tribe for a 15-5 advantage. Another kill from Morrow made it 17-6, then a kill from Mandola and one more kill from Tribe led to a ball in the net and a ball out of bounds from Great Hearts for Columbus to win the set 25-7.
After a serve in the net from Columbus tied the third set at one a piece, the Lady Cardinals proceeded to score the next fourteen points in a row, which consisted of four aces from senior setter Sage Thomas. Three more aces from Columbus put it at 21-5 and they capped off the set and match at 25-7 on one more ace and a kill from Mandola.
