Kenadie Young of the JV Lady Broncs concentrates on setting up her teammate at the net. Submitted Photo.
It was a busy week for the JV Lady Broncs volleyball squad as they played a total of six matches.
This included a home match with Shafter and then traveling to a weekend tournament. Playing against some heavy hitters, they were able to collect five set wins versus the likes of Bakersfield Chistian HS, Taft, Shafter, McFarland, and Stockdale. They split with BCHS and Taft, while earning wins over Shafter and McFarland. They rounded out their tournament with a loss to Stockdale.
The stat totals for the Lady Broncs in the tournament saw Kenadie Young lead the way in kills with 13. Brynnleigh McCarthy followed with seven kills, while Jade Montes finished with five kills. Samantha Wyly and Riley Wilkins each had a pair of kills for Kern Valley. The Lady Broncs collected 35 service aces in the matches played at the tournament. McCarthy had the hot hand as she delivered 12 aces to lead the Kern Valley team. Taylor Kristy finished with seven aces, while Wyly had six. Amber McAhren was credited with five aces, while Montes had three. Finishing up was Young who had a pair of serving aces.
On the defensive side of the net, Kern Valley recorded 78 digs in the tournament. Young collected 22 digs to lead the Lady Broncs. She was followed closely by Ashley Plante with 21 digs. Wyly had 16, while Kristy was credited with six. Emmalyn Bechtel finished with five digs, while the M & M girls of Montes and McAhren each had three digs apiece. Anna Allen and Wilkins capped off the digs for the team with one each. At the net, Kern Valley saw three players earn four blocks. McCarthy led the team with two blocks, while Montes and Wilkins recorded one block apiece.
Head coach Jessica Yasin commented on the tournament said, “This was a great day of volleyball. My goal was to allow the girls to work through some of the tougher moments on their own. We have a lot to work on in the upcoming weeks before league starts so that we can put the best team on the court.”
Earlier in the week, the Lady Broncs played a match at home with the Lady Generals of Shafter. Kern Valley took their opponents to set three, but came up short in getting the match victory. The Lady Broncs were dominated in the first set as they fell 25-7. They recovered to earn the second set win 25-21 to even the match at 1-1. The decider was all Shafter as took home the match with a 15-8 win.
Only 10 kills were recorded for the Lady Broncs in the three-set match. Led by Montes with three. She was followed by Young and Allen with a pair of kills. McCarthy, McAhren, and Wilkins delivered one kill each for Kern Valley. McCarthy was the only Lady Broncs player to record a service ace, as she had two in the match.
Defensively, Plante recorded 17 digs to lead her team. McAhren had seven, while Young and Wilkins each had four. Kristy and Bechtel each had one dig for the Lady Broncs. Young was the lone Kern Valley player to record a block in the match.
Yasin said, “”I am very proud of this team for their resiliency throughout this match. They never gave up and pushed through adversity to win the second set.”
The Lady Broncs went on the road to play McFarland on Tuesday. Tomorrow they will take on Del Oro at home.
