SCHULENBURG - The Schulenburg High School volley ball team had a close match with Columbus High School in an area matchup Sept. 10 at Shorthorns Gym in Schulenburg nd won by a final score of 25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 20-25, 15-8. After the Lady Horns stormed out to a two set lead, Columbus fought back and won the next two sets to bring it to a fifth set, where Schulenburg had control from the beginning and was able to finish the deal. "It's tremendous for us," said Schulenburg head coach Donald Zapalac on the win. “This is a season that we need to grow and this team is showing the growth that we're looking for. They just seem to find ways to battle at the end. Columbus is a quality team. No question about it. Got some great hitters, libero played lights out for them, kept balls off the floor, so that's what we want this for. Did we really want to go five sets tonight? Of course not. We'd like to win all three and be done early, but this one here, we needed five sets in the regional tournament last year twice, so it's our first time playing five this year, so I wanted to see how we responded because going up 2-0 and losing the third and fourth set and having to battle through the fifth, I told them can you deal with the pressure and that's what we wanted to see." Lady Horns sophomore Haylee Vacek had 21 kills for the night but wasn't available for a quote. Columbus is still one of the best teams in the area and will likely shake this one off and
get back to their winning ways. "Schulenburg definitely has
lots of weapons and they play really good defense," said Co lumbus head volleyball coach Kayley Johns. "We started very slow at the beginning and I think it speaks highly of our defense to fight back and win the third and fourth sets. Obviously, we got behind in the fifth set and our passing wasn't as good, so it was hard to execute. We know we can do better. It's good for us to have this adversity going into district play. I think we have a lot to learn from it and it'll make us stronger in the end." Schulenburg gradually stretched their lead throughout the first set and had a 17-10 lead after an ace that made Columbus call timeout after a bunch of pre - vious kills, a couple aces, and a few mistakes from Columbus. The Lady Cardinals responded with some aces of their own with two in a row being from senior setter Abigail Fisher to make it 18-14.
Schulenburg was able to cap - italize on more mistakes from Columbus and more kills of their own with one being from Vacek to win the set 25-19.
The second set was close in the beginning until Schulenburg scored three points in a row to go ahead 11-6. A kill from Co - lumbus senior outside hitter Tay - lor Morrow made it 14-11, then each team traded points for the remainder of the set where the Lady Horns came out on top with a few mishits from Columbus to win the set 25-23.
Two tip balls in a row, one being from Morrow, gave Co - lumbus a 7-2 lead in the third set and forced Schulenburg to call a timeout after a few kills from the Lady Cardinals and some mistakes from Schulenburg. A kill from Vacek then one from Lady Horns outside hitter Em - mrie Marx put the score at 11-9 and Schulenburg continued to keep the set close until an ace, a ball in the net from Schulenburg, and another ace from Columbus made it 17-12. Three points in a row from Schulenburg made the scoreboard read 20-17, then four out of the last five points for the Lady Cardinals won them the set 25-20.
A close battle in the beginning of the fourth set was managed by Columbus with four-consecutive points, including a block to make it 12-7. Consistent points from Columbus stretched their lead even more to 17-10 and they were able to keep their comfortability with a few more kills, some er - rors from Schulenburg, then a tip ball by sophomore Riley Kainer to win the set 25-20.
Schulenburg controlled the fifth set from the very beginning and took a 6-1 advantage on a number of kills and an ace. A block then two kills in a row by Morrow for Columbus put it at 7-4 and the set stayed at this kind of pace for it's remainder until Schulenburg was able to finish it off with four points in a row and the final two kills from Marx to win the set and match 15-8.
