By Rafael Marquez

A boisterous crowd cheered on the Hays High Lady Rebels in Bales Gym in a matchup against the Anderson Lady Trojans. The Lady Rebels fought hard, but fell short in a 3-2 loss Tuesday at Bales Gym. 

Things started well for the Lady Rebels, who put in a solid performance and won the first set with a score of 25-20. 

In the second set, Hays battled at the net and created confusion in the Anderson ranks with several well placed spikes and changeups. However, Anderson claimed set two 25-19. 

Hays positioned itself to take advantage of Anderson’s volleys over the net in the third set. But, the Lady Rebs hit the return  shots with too much power and repeatedly hit the ball out of bounds on their returns and during serves. A five point scoring run by Anderson while Jessa Webster was serving gave the Lady Trojans a 25-20 set victory. 

In the fourth set, while Lady Rebel’s junior Shanon Park was serving, the Rebels went on a 5-point scoring streak of their own. The Trojans called a timeout and successfully iced that streak. Despite that, the Lady Rebels went on to win the fourth set by a score of Trojans 21, Rebels 25.

The fifth set, was characterized by long volleys between the teams. 

Unfortunately for the Lady Rebels, the set ended with an unreturned serve. The score for the fifth set was Trojans 15, Rebels 10.

Hays had 2 players tied for kill leaders. Sophomore Mackenzie Coates and Junior Shanon Park each had 12 kills. Senior Kathryn Wristen had 51 assists. Wristen also had 24 digs and Senior Whitney Pond scored 2 aces.

Coates also had 4 blocks during the game.

The Rebel’s record now stands at 1-1 in district play. Overall, the Lady Rebels are 6-17 for the season.