By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A school-record 35 wins. A state berth for the first time since 2020. Two hundred career wins for head coach Shelly Duvall, who was just named Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. And a school assist record for sophomore Kya Behr. The 2024 Lady Panther volleyball season will go down as an historic one. And Great Bend did it with just four seniors.
"Taking a look at seasons coming up and players coming up, we're sitting pretty good for the next few years for Panther Volleyball," Duvall said on Wednesday's edition of 1590 KVGB/95.5 FM's "Sports Day." "These girls got to see some of the most elite competition in the state of Kansas. We had three girls who had ever played varsity going to a state competition."
Great Bend finished the regular season at 35-2 and took a 27-match win streak into state. The Lady Panthers finished at 35-5 with all five losses coming against opponents that made it to state in Classes 4, 5, and 6A.
Behr reached a milestone 1,000 career assists. Her 829 assists this season broke Taryn Kirmer's (Stueder) record of 745 assists in the 2012 season. Just two players have ever recorded more than 700 assists in a single season at GBHS.
Three Lady Panthers had more than 200 kills this season, led by senior Cassie Ellegood with 280, senior Kara Feist with 214, and Behr with 211. Ellegood's total ranks No. 9 for most in a season at the school. Sophomore Alex Mayers and freshman Mikayla Minton combined for 323 more. Feist and Ellegood led the defense at the net with 75 and 53 blocks, respectively, and freshman Micah Ellegood added 33.
Cassie Ellegood also had a banner year of service. Her 53 aces on the season are tied for No. 5 all-time at GBHS.
Junior Ava Kaiser led the back row with 353 digs, followed by Minton with 296, Behr with 284, and Mayers with 255. Junior Kimmy Hofflinger added 161. Kaiser became just the fourth Lady Panther to record more than 350 digs in a season and all five Lady Panthers mentioned climbed into the school's top-10 list for most digs in a season.
Duvall is already anticipating next year with so many players returning, but she is also proud of this year's group of four seniors.
"Kara is going to play at Fort Hays State and Cassie is going to play at Cowley," Duvall said. Addy (Irwin) and Josephine (Mazouch) gave us something that we were definitely needing, which was just that commaraderie and encouragement at all times."