On Thursday, Sept. 8, De Soto High School’s varsity volleyball team played a tri-match with Newton High School and Gardner-Edgerton High School.

DHS lost to a good Newton team 17-25, but then came back in the second set to lose only 23-25.

After the Newton match, DHS had to play a competitive 6A Gardner-Edgerton school and won 25-10 and 25-20.

Head Coach Lindsay Hothan said that she was very proud about the way the team competed as a whole.

“I love the way that we competed tonight. I told the girls that I was most proud about how, after we took a pretty intense loss that first match how they mentally refreshed their minds and were ready to compete against Gardner and did an excellent job,” Hothan said. “They never let it show that we lost our first match and they fought every point, so I’m really proud of them for that.”

A key moment for the wildcats came in the second set against Gardner-Edgerton, according to libero Maya Bascom.

“We were getting down after we had killed Gardner in the first game, and then Kaitlyn Bell got an amazing diving save over the net to keep a rally going and I think we all realized that we had that game and then we all got fired up and started connecting again,” Bascom said.

Hothan agreed that Bell’s save was the key play of the game.

“I think everyone stepped it up and did an amazing job, but Kaitlyn Bell had an insane diving, hustling defensive play that really pumped our team up and I think made us all excited to finish out with a win,” Hothan said.

All in all, the win against Gardner-Edgerton was extremely important for the wildcats, according to senior hitter Jackie Kennard.

“It was only our second home game and it’s still early in the season, so we’re still trying to prove ourselves. We just want to show that we’re good so it’s important that, even though we wanted two wins, we got a few wins off the bat to start the season off strong,” Kennard said. “I feel like the whole night we fought really hard. I know we lost the first one, but we never really gave up throughout the whole set. We worked really well together.”

Newton’s team is currently ranked fourth in the state of Kansas, so a close loss in the second set was very heartening for Hothan, especially because the girls were looking towards the Lansing invitational tournament that took place Saturday, Sept. 10.

“I’m glad that we were able to play some good teams today,” Hothan said. “That gives us a nice taste of what we’ll be facing this weekend, so knowing what it takes to compete at that level and the girls seeing that they’re very capable of that will, I think, give them some confidence for the weekend.”

The team ended up placing fourth at the tournament, losing to 5A and 6A schools in the final rounds.

The wildcats’ next game is Tuesday, Sept. 13 at home as they look to take a win against Louisberg High School—their main rivals in the Frontier League.