Wichita Check-In

<p>There has been some solid volleyball going on in South Kansas and I will label them as the "Wichita Area". I wanted to use the day to highlight some of the teams and players looking strong heading into the final weeks of the regular season.</p> <p><strong>Hutchinson</strong></p> <p>Our first school isn’t really in Wichita or the immediate surrounding area but like with our KC rankings and Washburn Rural, they are less than 60 miles so let’s talk about them. They are 28-4 on the year. They have split with Derby and Maize South this year and have the rubber match with the latter this week. Junior pin <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="122207" first="Maliyah" last="Johnson"]</strong> has been a force offensively with 247 kills. Fellow Junior <strong>Mya Thompson</strong> has chipped in with 163 of her own to form a strong 1-2 punch. Senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="123110" first="Kaitlin" last="Yoder"]</strong> has looked good running the show, dishing out over 500 assists on the year. Freshman <strong>Grace Posh</strong> has made an impact in her first year leading the team in digs. </p> <p><strong>Maize South</strong></p> <p>Speaking of Maize South, they have been equally impressive in 2021. They will look to take down Hutchinson tomorrow in the third showdown this season. They will enter the contest with a 24-8 record. Don’t let the 8 fool you. Some of those teams include undefeated Washburn Rural, Wichita Northwest, and perennial state power in class 4A Bishop Miege. The Mavericks have five players with over 100 kills this fall, led by sophomore sensation [player_tooltip player_id="153936" first="Jillian" last="Gregory"]’s 208. Classmates [player_tooltip player_id="119709" first="Gracie" last="Morrow"] and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="119728" first="CeCe" last="Young"]</strong> have combined for 241. The block game has been strong this year between Young and Junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="120011" first="Avery" last="Lowe"]</strong> leading the way with 114 of the 143 team total blocks. </p> <p><strong>Wichita Northwest</strong></p> <p>We hate to be an "I told you so" person but we did say at the top of the season, Wichita Northwest better be on your radar. How about 33-0? Well...let me say I don’t know if they are still undefeated. I believe they were scheduled for a potential showdown with Washburn Rural in the Derby tournament. The scores haven’t been updated but Rural’s Twitter does have them capturing the tournament. Anyway, if they did drop a match they are still a very solid team. We don’t have updated stats to know who has been strong for them this year. </p> <p><strong>Andale</strong></p> <p>Andale was sort of off of our radar but not anymore after going undefeated during the month of September. They are 26-1, with the sole loss coming to the hands of McPherson on August 31st. All everything [player_tooltip player_id="120012" first="McKenzie" last="Fairchild"] is leading the charge offensively at 4.6 kills per set and 255 on the season, to go along with around 200 digs. Junior <strong>Maddie Schrandt</strong> has provided a solid second-scoring threat with 150 kills. Senior <strong>Annabeth Baalmann</strong> is putting a bow on a solid career and has dished out close to 400 assists. </p> <p><strong>Sedgwick </strong></p> <p>The small but mighty Sedgwick Cardinals are 27-3 on the season. They delivered a big win over Remington last week. No stats are available. </p> <p><strong>Circle</strong></p> <p>The 23-5 Thunderbirds are having a great year and looked good out the gate winning 9 of their first 10 contest. In their 5 defeats, Smoke Valley and the before-mentioned Andale team were quality opponents and they split with McPherson this year. They started this month with 8 straight victories and look to keep the streak alive tomorrow versus Winfield and Wellington. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>