Taylor Kristy, JV Volleyball, 9th Grade. Photo by ISABEL ANZALDO
Kern Valley’s JV volleyball squad collected a pair of wins playing at home.
The Lady Broncs took care of Del Oro in two straight sets and followed that up with a victory over Imanuel Christian in two sets. In a previous match they fell to McFarland on the road in three sets.
In their win over the Del Oro team, the Lady Broncs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in sets with a 25-15 win. They completed the set sweep with a second-set win of 25-14. In the two sets, Kern Valley delivered 15 serving aces as a team. At the net the Lady Broncs totaled 10 kills.
Leading the way for the JV squad in service aces was Brynnleigh McCarthy with five. She was followed by Taylor Kristy with four. Samantha Wyly and Kenadie Young each served up three aces in the match. Jade Montes led the Lady Broncs in kills with three. Amber McAhren and Young followed with a pair of kills, while Riley Wilkins, McCarthy and Kristy each had one kill for Kern Valley.
Kristy had five assists to lead the Lady Broncs. Young pitched in with two assists, while Wyly finished off the assists with one. Ashley Plante was the team leader in digs with eight. Wyly, MCAhren, and McCarthy finished with one dig apiece.
Head coach Jessica Yasin said, “As a team we had at a lot of attack attempts, we also worked hard to handle all of the free balls that we saw. Overall, the girls kept control of the court in what was a slow-moving defensive game. Jade Montes did great in leading the team in attack attempts and kills from the middle.”
The second match on their home court was against Immanuel Christian. The Lady Broncs dominated from start to finish in grabbing the match victory. They opened the match by taking the first set 25-7. The second set was closer, but still went Kern Valley’s way. The final score in the set was 25-14. The Lady Broncs served their way to collecting 18 service aces in the two-set match. They dominated net play as the put down 14 kills as a team. There were 12 assists in the match and only three digs were recorded.
Three Lady Broncs shared the team lead in service aces. Delivering four aces each were Montes, Emmalyn Bechtel, and Young. Wilkins finished with three service aces, while McCarthy rounded out the service aces with one. A pair of Kern Valley athletes shared the team lead in kills with four apiece. The M & M crew of McCarthy and Montes led the way at the net for the Lady Broncs. Kristy was credited with two kills in the match. Recording one kill apiece were Wyly, McAhren, Wilkins, and Young.
Kristy was on her game as she was credited with 11 assists in the match. This allowed the team to attack the net and earn the kill. Montes had one assist for Kern Valley. Plante had a pair of digs, while Wyly had one dig in the two-set match victory for the Lady Broncs.
Yasin commented, “This was a whole team win, everybody was able to get into the game and everyone had a hand in the win. Riley Wilkins had a great game, coming in off the bench and immediately attacking the ball and swinging for a .500 average along with her three service aces and 12 service points.”
On August 27, Kern Valley traveled to McFarland to compete with the Lady Cougars. This match went three sets with the Lady Broncs falling short. They lost the match 2-1. It started well as they took the first set 25-21. They dropped the second set 25-20 to even the match at 1-1. The deciding set was a see-saw battle that saw the Lady Cougars take the match with a 15-13 set win.
In dividual stats in the match for the Lady Broncs. Aces: McCarthy 6, Kristy 2, Wyly 1, Montes 1, McAhren 1. Kills: McCarthy 8, Wyly 5, Montes 3, Wilkins 3, Young 1. Assists: Young 13, Kristy 8. Digs: Plante 27, Bechtel 4, Wyly 3, Kristy 3, McAhren 2, Young 2, Montes 1, McCarthy 1.
Commenting on the match Yasin said, “This was a hard-fought game. I thought that we showed a lot of grit and determination and fought for every point in every set. I am proud of the girls for never giving up. Ashley Plante had a great game holding down the back row as libero and taking care of a lot of pretty hard-hit balls.”
Kern Valley on the year sits at 3-2 in individual matches and 5-4 in tournament play. Their next competition will come when they start HDL action. They opened league play in Bishop on Tuesday. They return north on Thursday as they travel to Mammoth for HDL match number two.
