The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

The Lady Bulldogs have won six of their last seven games, including the last three giving the team a 10-8 record as the final four games of the regular season approach. The most recent win came on the road against the Lady Buffaloes at Caliche on Friday night. The Lady Bulldogs took down the home team with a sweep. Haxtun is set to face Otis, Sedgwick County, Weldon Valley and Merino to round out the regular season schedule.

Haxtun started off slow early in the first set against the Lady Buffaloes, who hosted the Lady Bulldogs in their annual homecoming contest. Slowly, Haxtun battled back to take the first set 25-21 and cruised for the final two, 25-9 and 25-10.

The Lady Bulldogs put down 37 kills in the three set win on Friday night. Bobbi Starkebaum earned double-digits, leading her team with 10 kills. Cassidy Goddard put down nine kills while Julie Freeman added eight. Maggie Kilgour registered six kills followed by Kelsie Hadeen with three. Up at the net, Starkebaum tallied three blocks, the team high, followed by Goddard with two.

As a team, Haxtun earned a 90 percent in the serve column with two Lady Bulldogs serving 95 percent. Emily Anderson and Goddard went 95 percent from behind the service line while also registering two aces a piece. Megan Walker and Grace Gibson also sent over to service aces in the contest. Freeman and Starkebaum each tallied a single ace.

Hadeen tallied 12 successful assists for Lady Bulldog kills on Friday. Starkebaum registered seven assists followed by Walker with six.

In the back row, Hadeen and Gibson each had seven digs to lead their team on defense. Anderson dug up six balls followed by Freeman and Walker, each with five. On serve receive, Walker tallied 12 passes followed by Gibson and Freeman, each with eight, and Goddard with six.

“The girls have been working really hard,” Head Coach Don Schelling said of his team’s performance over the past few weeks. “Our defense is getting better every game and our blocking has been really good. They are really playing as a team and it shows.”

Schelling said he is impressed by how scrappy the team has been playing and how they fight for every point to stay in the game.

This week the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Nebraska to face off with the Kimball Lady Longhorns. That match was played following this week’s Herald deadline. Watch next week’s edition for the outcome and stats of that match.

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Haxtun is set to travel to Otis for a battle of the Bulldogs at 4 p.m. Later in the week, the Lady Bulldogs will host Sedgwick County for a Saturday afternoon match up at 2 p.m.

According to MaxPreps, the 1A Otis Bulldogs are 12-5 overall as of this week. The same site lists the Lady Cougars, a 2A team, as 14-2 as of the second week of October.

“We are focusing on one game at a time,” said Schelling. “We will keep working on our defense and continue to get better every day.”