JCN settles for fourth at state volleyball

The line between tears of joy and tears of frustration was thin at times for the Jefferson County North Chargers volleyball team as the squad slipped through pool play only to have a frustrating Saturday for a fourth-place finish Nov. 1 at the 3A state tournament in Salina.

The Chargers entered play on Halloween afternoon at the Bicentennial Center as the fifth seed in a pool with top-seeded Phillipsburg, fourth-seeded Osage City and eighth-seeded Hoisington. Hoisington knocked off Phillipsburg in an upset in the first match of the day and the Chargers got started versus Osage City.

The Indians, who entered the tourney at 35-5, jumped out to a 14-6 game 1 lead but saw North fight back to whittle the lead to 21-17 and, eventually, 23-21, on a kill by North senior Lisa Weishaar. After Osage City’s second timeout of the game, a North player made contact with the net to give Osage City game point and an illegal hit call on North gave Osage City a 25-21 win in the first game of the best-of-three match. North took the early lead in game two by surging to a 14-3 advantage and rolling to a 25-13 win to force a deciding game 3.

The game would be close as North took a 6-3 lead but Osage City came back to take a 15-9 lead. JCN responded to tie the game at 18 on a kill by senior Devin Gigstad and force an Indians timeout. JCN made it a 6-point run to make the lead 21-18 but the Indians tied the game at 22. The Indians had a match point at 24-23 but JCN junior Sara Navinskey came through with a kill. At a 24-all tie, JCN sophomore Jordyne Seichepine scored a kill to give North a match point but Osage City retied the game. A Seichepine block gave North a second chance and an Osage City kill attempt hit the net and fell on the Indians’ side to give North the match.

North stayed on the court to face top seed Phillipsburg and found the Panthers focused after their opening loss to Hoisington. The Panthers led most of the way as they pulled away to a 4- or 5-point lead most of game 1 to take the game by a score of 25-20. JCN established the early lead in game 2 and was ahead, 14-9, before the Panthers started to creep back into the game. They got the game tied at 16 before moving ahead with a run of 4 straight points to make it 21-17. A Weishaar kill cut it to 22-20 and the Chargers got within a point before the Panthers scored the next 3 points to take the game and the match, 25-21, and drop JCN to 1-1 in pool play.

Hoisington and Phillipsburg both defeated Osage City to knock the Indians out of contention at 0-3 and set up a pivotal match between North and 2-0 Hoisington with a shot at advancing to Saturday’s Final Four on the line. North pulled out its best match of the day to dispatch the Cardinals, 25-21, 25-18. On the tiebreaker, Phillipsburg came through as the pool’s top seed while North came out ahead of Hoisington based on the amount of games needed to win its 2 matches.

The Chargers were then slated to face Rock Creek as the top qualifier in the other pool in Saturday’s semifinal match. North would play a tough game 1 but wouldn’t recover from a close loss in that game in game 2.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 5-2 lead and forced a North timeout at 9-4. The Chargers responded to tie the game at 11, 12 and 13. Rock Creek would creep ahead again only to see North tie the game at 16. Rock Creek again took a 3-point lead at 19-16 but North wouldn’t go away to cut the lead back to 20-19. Again Rock Creek tried to put the game away at 23-19 and 24-21 but a Mustang serve sailed long and a good serve by North junior Molly Lyon wasn’t returned by Rock Creek to keep North in the game.

After a Mustang timeout, a Gigstad tip fell in to tie the game at 24. Rock Creek had another chance to win the game but North scored two straight points including a Weishaar kill that forced a Mustang illegal hit to give North a game point. After another Mustang timeout, Rock Creek survived to tie the game but North fought off another game point before Rock Creek eventually won the game, 29-27, as a Seichepine kill fell just long.

JCN held an early 8-5 lead in game 2 and led, 9-6, when Rock Creek rolled off 9 straight points to take a 15-9 lead. The Mustangs extended the lead to 7 points before North was able to make a run to cut the lead to 21-18. Rock Creek would score the final 2 points of the match to move into the state title game with a 29-27, 25-19 victory.

With dreams of a state title dashed, the Chargers were forced to refocus on a rematch with Phillipsburg, which fell to Garden Plain in the other semifinal. The second match with the Panthers would play out much like the first one as a tight game 1 saw Philipsburg pull ahead in the teens to take a 19-14 lead. North cut the lead back to 20-19 but the Panthers rattled off 5 straight points to take game 1 by a 25-19 count.

In game 2, Phillipsburg took a 6-1 lead and extended it to 11-5. JCN got as close as 13-10 before the Panthers went on another run to make it 19-10. The Panthers got match point at 24-12 and North fought off three points before the Panthers were able to take home a 25-16 game 2 victory for third place in the tournament.

With the season in the books at 35-10, North coach Jeremy Gish huddled his players as they emotionally dealt with a tough end to another successful season. The team waited and watched as Garden Plain defeated Rock Creek in two games for the state title and then the Chargers got their fourth-place medals and took time for some team photos by the cadre of parents, students and supporters that made the trek west on I-70 to Salina.

Gish said despite the unfavorable outcome of Saturday’s matches, he and his team wouldn’t second-guess themselves.

“We don’t have any regrets,” Gish said. “The girls played extremely hard and they left all they had on the court. Against Rock Creek, we probably got our best defensive match of the year. The girls just refused to let the ball hit the floor at times. Rock Creek is a good team but, really, we don’t match up well. With Phillipsburg, we knew what they liked to do, we just couldn’t get it going. I think the girls were extremely motivated. I didn’t feel like we were getting too many breaks today, and there’s not much you can do about that.”

Navinskey was later named to the Kansas Volleyball Association’s all-tournament team for the 3A tourney.