David City volleyball drops third-straight match versus state-caliber team

David City volleyball, after dropping a pair of three-set matches to Milford and Malcolm in a triangular on Sept. 16, returned home for another tough match against Wahoo Neumann.

The Scouts took the opening set, but they dropped the final three sets in a 25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 19-25 defeat.

"I thought we came out in the first set ... we were passing well, we were scrappy, we were able to put the ball away," David City head coach Tali Reeves said. "They were serving tougher and got us out of system and we just couldn't put the ball away."

David City senior Kamryn Behrns posted a double-double of 21 kills and 16 digs. Senior Kambri Andel posted 21 assists and eight kills. Sophomore Emma Zimmerman dug 13 balls.

The Scouts struggled with serve receive in the final three sets. Wahoo Neumann served 11 aces and forced 11 serve receive errors, the most in a match by David City this season.

"We struggled," Reeves said. "We can't really run our offense when we're at the 15-foot line. Props to them for serving tough, but we just couldn't get it going."

Scouts junior Brooke Golden finished the match with seven kills. Golden recorded three kills in each of the final two sets, saving a set point in the third set and recording back-to-back kills in the fourth set to cut the deficit to three.

"We really talked about her (Golden) just going out and swinging and not playing it so safe and just going out and looking for high hands and just going after it," Reeves said. "It was good to see her take that step forward."

Thursday marked their third-straight match against state-caliber teams. David City lost a pair of close matches two days earlier losing to Milford 23-25, 27-25, 14-25, and to Malcolm 25-21, 23-25, 20-25.

Of the 11 sets dropped this season, seven have been decided two or three points.

"We're right there," Reeves said. "We just have to trust our training and trust each other. One of these times we'll get it all figured out and put together and come out the other way."

David City entered Tuesday's match at Cross County with an 8-5 record. It'll head to Lakeview on Thursday before hosting its home invite on Saturday.

"They're resilient. They really do believe that we can take that next step. They haven't lost faith in that," Reeves said. "I told them like don't get down. We got to just keep going. I know we're close, but one of these times we got to take the next step and go out and win those games."

Shelby-Rising City

Shelby-Rising City split its two matches last week with a sweep of East Butler on Thursday 25-11, 25-11, 25-22.

Huskies sophomore Madison Augustin broke a school record with 13 aces to go with 19 assists. Freshman Hayden Hopwood and junior Kaleigh Ruth spiked 10 kills. 

On Sept. 16, the Huskies lost in five sets at Arlington 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 13-25, 12-15. Ruth, Hopwood and Augustin all recorded double-doubles.

Ruth finished with 15 kills and 12 digs. Hopwood tallied 12 kills and 13 digs. Augustin posted 29 assists and 13 digs. Huskies sophomore Aleigha Escobar-Schaefer led the team with 17 digs.

SRC entered Tuesday's triangular at Nebraska Lutheran with a 7-2 record. It'll head to the Dorchester triangular on Thursday and then the David City Invite on Saturday.