By Jason Bucher
Last week the Bedford Lady Bulldogs competed in the Corner Conference Volleyball tournament. On Monday night, they fought a hard battle at Sidney with Stanton before losing in the fifth set. The final scores were 18-25, 26-28, 25-19, 25-19 and 2-15.
In the opening set, Aniya Hardee tied the score at 2-2 with an ace, ace, ace. Macy Musich then put the Lady Bulldogs up 3-2 with a kill in the middle. Musich struck again with a blast in the middle off of a set from Aniya for a 5-4 advantage. Bella Hardee then won a battle at the net that deflected off the opponent for an 8-6 lead. Musich continued to be a force in the middle as Aniya used a back set to Musich for the hammer in the middle that made it 12-11. Stanton then went on a 7-3 spurt before Kalynn Moore denied a kill at the net to fall on the opponents side for a point that made it 16-18. Another denial at the net from Moore pulled the Lady Bulldogs back to with in one at 17-18. Joslynn Longfellow powered through a block attempt as the Lady Bulldogs fought back, down 18-21. This was close as close as they could get as Stanton closed out the set 18-25.
In the second set Aniya set up her cousin Moore on the outside for a kill that made it 3-4. An ace on the serve of Sydney Strong knotted the game at 5-5. Longfellow then found an opening with her kill that put the Lady Bulldogs up 6-5. An ace from Longfellow pushed the advantage to 10-7. Elise Kreps sacrificed her body with a back row save that Aniya then played out of the net to fall on the other side for a point that made it 11-9. Aniya then found her cousin Bella Hardee in the middle for a kill that tipped off the fingers of the Stanton defense for a 13-11 score. Both teams traded points back and forth as Longfellow pushed a ball to the unoccupied far corner and made it 15-17. An ace from Kreps and a tip from Aniya kept the Lady Bulldogs in striking distance down 17-18. Musich tied the game with a kill in the middle and then Longfellow went to work with consecutive aces that made it 20-18 and forced a time out. Stanton then responded with five in a row before Musich blasted a ball off the block attempt for a 21-23 score. Aniya served up consecutive points to tie the score and force a Stanton timeout at 23-23. Both teams continued to trade points and an Aniya push made it 26-25. Unfortunately, the Lady Bulldogs could not get the point they needed and Stanton closed out the set with the next three points for a 26-28 win.
The second set gave the Lady Bulldogs the confidence they needed as they turned it around in the third set. Kreps again laid out to dig a ball and the Lady Bulldogs scored a point for an early 4-3 lead. Longfellow then layered in a kill for a 5-3 advantage. Kreps then bumped a ball to Aniya who tipped it over for a point and it a 9-8 advantage. After three in a row from Stanton, Moore spiked a ball in the middle and made it 11-11. A back row spike from Kreps and then a Moore kill in the middle put the Lady Bulldogs up 14-12. A block from Moore followed by a smash from Moore on an errant Stanton pass forced a time out with the score 17-12. After a push from Moore fell in for a point and made it 18-13. After two straight from the opponent, Longfellow unloaded on a kill that made it 19-15. Kreps bumped another ball towards the net, that Aniya leaped for and blasted down and made it 21-17. Charlotte Shafar made it 23-17 after a kill at the net to force another Stanton time out with the score 23-17. Shafar then closed out the set when she pushed a ball to the back row that could not be handled for a 25-19 win.
The momentum carried over into the fourth set for the Lady Bulldogs as consecutive kills from Musich gave the Lady Bulldogs an early 4-2 lead. Stanton then used a six point run that was interrupted by a Bella blast for a 5-8 score. Both teams traded serves as a Musich block pulled the Lady Bulldogs to within one at 11-12. Then Longfellow dropped in a pair of aces and Musich added a kill as the Lady Bulldogs stole back the momentum up 16-14. Musich then set up Shafar in the middle for a kill to regain the lead at 18-17. After a Bella blast tied the score at 19 the Lady Bulldogs were done messing around and scored the next six points which included two kills from Moore and some big digs from Kreps for a 25-19 win.
In the fifth set the Lady Bulldogs ran out of gas as they fell 2-15. Aniya had big night dishing out 25 assists, with 5 kills, 16 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace and a perfect 20 for 20 serving. Longfellow served up 6 aces on 15 of 18 serving, 19 digs, 1 block, and 6 kills. Kreps hustled her way to 36 digs, 4 assists, 2 kills, and 1 ace on 8 of 9 serving. Moore led the team with 10 kills, 5 blocks and 3 digs. Musich had 8 kills, 8 digs, 4 blocks, 2 assists and served 10 for 14. Shafar had 5 kills, 10 digs and served 13 for 16. Bella had 3 kills, 2 assists and 1 block. Strong had 1 assist, 12 digs, 1 ace and 7 of 8 serving. Delani Dalton finished 9 of 9 serving with 4 digs.