Even though Goessel hasn’t qualified for the state volleyball tournament since 2017, the Bluebirds haven’t exactly fallen out of the ranks as a top contender.
 
Instead, they’ve somewhat been a victim of circumstance.
 
“I feel like we’ve been in the conversation the past couple of years, but we’ve just run into Little River as our roadblock,” Goessel coach Cyrsta Guhr said, referring to the two-time reigning Class 1A Division I state champion Redskins. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody that’s given them a better match than we have the past few years. It just so happened those matches were taking place in sub-state play.”
 
Indeed, each of the past two seasons, Goessel’s path to state has ended in the sub-state championship game by Little River. The Redskins fought off Goessel 25-22, 27-25 in the 2022 sub-state finals and then took a 25-22, 25-11 win in last year’s finals.
 
In fact, five of last year’s 10 losses in a 29-10 season came to Little River.
 
Whether the Wheat State League rivals wind up in the same sub-state again this year or not remains to be seen. But however the postseason lays out, Goessel is laying the ground work to make a deep run in 2024.
 
The Bluebirds delivered themselves a huge shot of confidence last weekend at their home tournament. Goessel hadn’t won the Bluebird Invitational since 2017 before coming away with the title on Saturday.
 
Goessel didn’t drop a set in five matches on the day and beat Class 2A power Sedgwick not just once, but twice at the tourney. The Bluebirds took a 25-20, 25-22 win in pool play over the Cardinals and then claimed the rematch in the tournament championship game with a 25-21, 25-17 victory.
 
“To do it in pool play was thrilling, but we talked about before finals how we wanted to make sure that we proved it to ourselves that it wasn’t a fluke,” Guhr said of the wins over Sedgwick, which is coached by her twin sister, Karen Stucky. “I thought we did a phenomenal job of being focused and determined for that.
 
“I think it was a big step forward for us. Our two schools have joined together for club for years and those kids are kids we know and have grown up playing with. The great thing about playing Sedgwick isn’t just beating them, but knowing we’re going to get better having played them. That’s really been our focus this year, process over perfection and continuing to get better every day in the gym.”
 
Goessel returned four starters off last year’s team, but had to replace the team’s vocal and emotional leader with the graduation of Jaicee Griffin. But plenty of talent was on hand with last year’s leading hitter (Brooklyn Wuest), setter (Aimee Funk) and libero (Abbigail Funk) back.
 
That trio had big tournaments on Saturday. Wuest recorded 71 kills with a kill percentage of .473. Aimee Funk had 120 assists and Abbigail Funk had 58 digs and 9 aces. The Bluebirds also got a spark from freshman Delaney Duerksen, who added 31 kills and 47 digs.
 
“Saturday was a big day for us, not just for confidence but because we grew a lot,” Guhr said. “We are not very big and I’ve had many people comment about how we’re not big. Our biggest girl is 5-8, on a good day. In shoes. But we do play bigger than that. … We can’t do much about it at the net, but we are pretty good in the back row. One of our expectations was to accentuate that strength of ours and be steady in the first contact part of the game, which is serve and pass.
 
“We’re lucky this year that we have some kids that can terminate the ball and that’s been missing the past couple of years. We have to turn our digs into offense and that’s what we were able to do so efficiently on Saturday.”
 
Goessel improved to 9-1 with the tournament title, the lone loss to start the season against two-time defending Class 1A Division II champion Lebo. The Bluebirds suffered their second loss of the season on Tuesday night in the league opener against Little River and now sit at 10-2 overall.
 
 
OTHER VOLLEYBALL STANDOUTS
 

 

• Nemaha Central captured the title at its home tournament, going 6-0 on the day. The Thunder allowed 20 or fewer points in a game during 4-0 pool play and then swept Hiawatha 25-8, 25-12 in the semifinals. Facing Rock Creek in the championship match, Nemaha pulled out a 28-26, 17-25, 25-22 win for the title. Cali Honeyman had 48 kills and 48 digs in the tourney and Zoey Sudbeck added 44 kills and 14 blocks. Hallie Holthaus dished out 121 assists and Ali Jo Henry had 12 aces.

 

• Clay Center went 5-0 without dropping a set to win the Riley County Invitational. The Tigers improved to 14-1 on the season with the title, their second tourney win of the season. Riley County finished third at its own tournament, its first time in six years placing in the top three. The Falcons topped Valley Heights for third after falling to Clay Center in the semifinals.

 

• Beloit downed two-time reigning Class 2A state champion Hillsboro in the championship match to claim the title at the Southeast of Saline Invitational. Beloit won 25-15, 25-17 to cap a day where not only did the Trojans not drop a set, but also had only one game where they allowed more than 19 points, that coming in a 25-8, 26-24 win over Smoky Valley in pool play. Addison Budke had 16 kills in the championship match while Sophia Thompson added 7 and Brecken Boudreaux had 6. Jaidyn Follis had 16 assists and Kailyn Follis had 12 digs for the Trojans, who are 10-3 on the season with two losses to 6A Olathe West and the other to Minden (Neb.).
• After starting the season 0-5 following the graduation of five All-State seniors, two-time reigning Class 1A Division I champion Little River has bounced back to win 10 straight. That includes a 5-0 showing to win the Centre Invitational last Saturday. The Redskins didn’t drop a set at the tourney, winning the title there for the fourth straight year after beating Herington 28-26, 25-13 in the title match.

 

• Royal Valley’s Samantha Klotz recorded her 1000^th career kill in the Panthers’ sweep of Sabetha last week. The Panthers are now 11-1 after sweeping Hiawatha and Riley County on Tuesday.
• West Franklin pulled off a home sweep of Ottawa and Heritage Christian on Sept. 5, the first time the Falcons have swept the triangular that first started in 2020. Haydan Walters had 13 kills and Kaylee Williams added 12 on the night while Greelie McMahan had 28 assists.
• Cair Paravel won the title at the Frankfort Invitational, going 5-0 on the day. The Lions didn’t drop a set at the tourney and a 25-22, 25-10 win over Onaga was the title-deciding victory.
• Hanover captured the title at the Clifton-Clyde Invitational, finishing with a 5-0 record. The Wildcats got a tough challenge from the hosts in the semifinal opener, pulling out a 28-26 win before taking the second set 25-6. In the finals, Hanover rolled past Wamego 25-8, 25-18. Hanover is one of two teams still unbeaten in Twin Valley League play, sitting 5-0 in league, just behind 6-0 Valley Heights.