Fairbanks’ Anna Higbee (15) prepares to strike the ball during Monday evening’s match against North Union. Pictured at the left for the Lady Cats is Candace Holloway. Also pictured for FHS is Kaelynn Sphapmixay (20). Fairbanks won the match in three sets. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
The Fairbanks High School volleyball team continued its work in progress on Monday.
On the other hand, North Union coach Alexis Maenz felt her team wasn’t ready to play.
The Lady Panthers pulled to .500 (7-7) with a 25-15, 25-18, 25-12 verdict over the Lady Cats, who slipped to 0-8.
“The biggest area of improvement I’ve seen is we are learning to compete on every swing,” said FHS coach Ryanne Ufferman. “We’ve got some young players we expect to be scorers for us and they’re getting better every match.”
Junior Caydee Breneman is one of those athletes Ufferman is relying upon as the season progresses.
She came through with 10 kills after she was successful on 13-of-15 hits.
In the meantime, Maenz continues to work with a struggling team.
“I don’t think we showed up to play tonight,” she said. “We did not match Fairbanks for its intensity from the start of the match.
“We have to continue to work on bringing that energy.”
The Lady Panthers (who will host Springfield Catholic Central today) jumped out to a 10-2 lead during the opening set.
Breneman and Anna Higbee both came up with blocks, while Breneman tallied a kill during that stretch.
North Union (which will host Indian Lake today) could not match FHS’ strength at the net.
Kaelynn Sphapmixay came through with a kill that gave Fairbanks a 13-3 margin.
Points were difficult to come by for North Union.
Abi Zimmerman put down a kill for NU’s fifth point.
By that time, however, Fairbanks had climbed to a 17-5 margin.
NU later took advantage of several Panther hitting and passing miscues.
In doing so, the Lady Cats narrowed their deficit to 21-14.
North Union’s hitting mistakes, though, soon put Fairbanks at set point, 24-14.
Hope Hall “pooched” over a kill for the Lady Cats’ final point of the set.
An errant dig by NU gave FHS its winning marker for the game.
History repeated itself during the ensuing set, with Fairbanks climbing to a 10-3 advantage on NU’s double hit infraction.
The Lady Cats scored four quick points, including an ace serve from Zoe Wedding that narrowed the gap to 10-7.
Just when it appeared North Union had gained some momentum, the Lady Panthers went back to work.
FHS elevated its upper hand to 15-9 when the Cats couldn’t keep the ball in play.
From that point on, North Union had to play catch-up.
The Cats never whittled their deficit to less than five points during the remainder of the set.
Breneman blasted a kill for a 22-16 Panther lead.
NU sent a pair of serve receptions out-of-bounds as Fairbanks took a 2-0 lead in games.
North Union fell behind 4-1 early during the final game.
The Lady Cats, however, stayed within striking distance for the next several minutes.
Riley Heminger ripped the ball past a potential Panther block, cutting FHS’ lead to 8-6.
A net serve by Fairbanks pulled NU to within 10-9, which was the closest gap of the match during any stretch of time.
The Lady Panthers, though, kicked things up a notch over the next several minutes.
Higbee and Olivia Vollrath sent kills over the net for a 17-9 Panther spread.
Sienna Ballinger of NU momentarily stopped Fairbanks’ momentum with a kill.
A tip over the net by Aubrey Burns, though, gave the Lady Panthers an 18-10 lead.
North Union sent a pass out of play as Fairbanks rose to a 22-12 advantage.
FHS scored the final three points of the night on Lady Cat blocking or passing miscues.
Top stat leaders for North Union were Kayla Sedgewick (18 digs) and Candace Holloway (11 assists).