By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
After an easy match one at Monday's Class 3A regional volleyball tournament at the Hoisington Activity Center, the No. 6 Lady Cardinals survived a 3-set scare to beat Ellsworth before finishing the quad at 3-0 with an easy win against Cimarron. Hoisington moves to 35-4 overall and will host a Class 3A substate on Saturday.
As the No. 1 seed Monday, the Lady Cards quickly dispatched No. 16 seed Lyons 25-7, 25-10. Coming off a 3-set win against No. 8 Cimarron, the Bearcats dropped the first set to Hoisington 25-13 but came back to win the second set 25-18. Perhaps needing the third set to keep the substate in Hoisington on Saturday, the Lady Cards answered with a 25-9 third set, then defeated Cimarron 25-11, 25-11. With a win over Lyons in the other late match, Ellsworth also secured a spot in substate action Saturday.
Heading into Monday's regional, sophomore Sofia Simic remained the big force at the net with 548 kills on the season. Junior Kelsi Maier was next on the team with 170, and sophomore Kinley Wilkens had 122. Simic also accounted for 138 of the team's 242 aces on the season, followed by 41 from senior Ellie Crawford. Maier and sophomore Addison Hanzlick led the team with 47 and 44 blocks, respectively. Crawford had a team-high 556 assists, followed by sophomore Brynn Tarlton with 271. Senior Gabby Reif has been a force in the back row with 267 digs, followed by 192 from Simic and 155 from Crawford.