By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Despite the No. 9 ranking in Class 5A, the Great Bend High School volleyball team finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the 5A West standings to earn a No. 2 seed behind top-ranked Topeka-Seaman. On Saturday, Oct. 26, the Lady Panthers will host No. 7 seed Hays, No. 10. seed Valley Center, and No. 15 seed Goddard in substate action.
Action begins at 1 p.m. Saturday at GBHS as Great Bend takes on Goddard. Hays and Valley Center will follow on the single court 20 minutes following the first match. The winners of both semifinals will meet 20 minutes after the second semifinal to determine which school will be represented at state.
Admission is $8 for adults and $6 for students K-12.
The Lady Panthers reset the school record for wins in a season at 33-2 after Saturday's Western Athletic Conference title run in Garden City. Through 35 matches, senior Cassie Ellegood leads the team with 239 kills. Sophomore Kya Behr and senior Kara Feist are neck and neck with 187 and 184, respectively. Behr has 716 assists on the season and enters substate action just 29 kills shy of a school record for assists in a season.
Ellegood leads the team with 47 aces and is just two aces shy of moving into the school's top-10 list for most aces in a season. Junior Ava Kaiser has 35 aces and Behr 33. Kaiser also leads the defense with 304 digs, followed by 256 from freshman Mikala Minton and 249 from Behr. Sophomore Alex Mayers has also reached 200 on the season with 217 digs. Feist leads the defense at the net with 70 blocks, followed by 49 from Cassie Ellegood and 39 from freshman Micah Ellegood.