Hornettes Celebrate Senior Night
The NCHS Volleyball team, along with the Boys Golf team celebrated Senior Night this past week. Seniors and their parents were honored before the start of the Varsity game against DuQuoin on October 12.
By Brent Huelsmann
The postseason is rapidly approaching for the Nashville Hornettes volleyball team as they enter the final week of e regular season. The Hornettes matched up against Murphysboro on October 17 before ending the regular season with a trip to Mater Dei. The Hornettes will begin postseason play against either Wesclin or Carlyle on October 24 in Dupo at 5:30 p.m. This past week the Hornettes had a busy week in which they went up against Pinckneyville, DuQuoin, Collinsville, Columbia, Waterloo, and Waterloo Gibault.
Nashville began the week with a tough matchup against Pinckneyville. After dropping the first game 25-14, Nashville came back with a 25-17 win in game two. The Hornettes would drop the deciding game three 25-17. With the win, the Lady Panthers clinched the SIRR MIssissippi Division Conference Title.
Abby Kempfer led the Hornettes with seven kills in the loss. Bailey Melton, Jenna Harris and Mackenzie McFeron each had five kills. Vanessa Wyciskalla had two kills. Kempfer also led the way with two blocks, while Paige Kasten led the way with 19 assists. Abby Wesselman had 16 digs to lead the Hornettes in the loss.
Nashville ended the conference schedule and home schedule on a high note as they defeated DuQuoin 25-13, 25-16 to take the win on Senior Night. In game one, the Hornettes trailed 1-0 early but would not trail for long. Nashville took a 2-1 lead and never looked back. The Hornettes would control the action the rest of the game, as they cruised to a 25-13 win. In game two, DuQuoin came out on fire, taking a 4-1 lead over the Hornettes. Nashville didn’t panic and quickly was able to tie the game. DuQuoin would again take the lead but could not hold on as they Hornettes took the lead for good at 8-7. Nashville would score 10 of the next 13 points to take a commanding lead, and would go on to victory.
After the game, head coach Josh Konkel talked about ending the conference slate with a win. “It’s nice to rebound from a tough match at Pinckneyville. I thought our girls did well tonight about being aggressive. We controlled the ball well tonight and Paige did a nice job spreading the ball around to the hitters and the seniors really stepped up on Senior Night.
McFeron led the way in the win with 10 kills for Nashville. Kempfer added six kills, while both Melton and Wyciskalla finished with four kills. Kempfer finished with six blocks, while Kasten led the team with 25 assists. Wesselman and McFeron each had 13 digs.
The Hornettes then began play in the Monster Mash Tournament on October 14. In their first match of the tournament, the Hornettes were able to defeat Collinsville 25-16, 25-14. Collinsville beat the Hornettes earlier in the season in the Triad Round Robin Tournament.
Nashville was led by McFeron and Harris, who each had six kills. Melton had four kills for Nashville. Melton had six blocks to lead the way for Nashville, followed by Kempfer with three. Wesselman and Sydney Brinkman each tied for the team lead with 11 digs, while Kasten led the team with 15 assists.
Nashville’s next contest was up against Columbia. Columbia took the first game 25-15, before taking game two and the match 25-16.
Delaney Varel led Nashville with four kills in the loss. McFeron and Melton each had two kills, while Kempfer and Harris each had one. Kempfer led the way with four blocks, while Varel, Harris and McFeron each had one. Kasten finished with nine assists, while McFeron led the way with nine digs.
Nashville’s next matchup was up against Waterloo. In a back and forth game one, Waterloo was just able to edge out the Hornettes 28-27. Game two was again a close matchup, but again Waterloo was able to come out on top 25-22 to take the win.
Kasten spread the ball around in the win, as she finished with a team-high 21 assists. McFeron led the team with nine kills, followed by Kempfer with seven. Harris finished with four kills in the loss. Kempfer, Melton, Varel, Harris, and Kasten each finished with one block. Wesselman led the way with 15 digs. McFeron finished with seven digs, followed by Brinkman with five.
In their final game of the tournament, the Hornettes defeated Waterloo Gibault in two straight games. Nashville took game one 25-18 before taking game two 25-20.
A balanced attack in the win led to six different players recording at least one kill. Melton led the way with four, followed by Varel with three. Kempfer and Kasten each finished with two, while McFeron and Harris each had one kill. Kempfer led the team with three blocks, while Brinkman and Wesselman each had five digs to lead the team. Kasten led Nashville with 13 assists.
