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The varsity Lady Cards of Columbus got their volleyball season started with some high-level play after running out to an early win streak. After reaching the state semifinals last year, the Lady Cards entered the year with a new level of focus as many of their impact players enter their senior seasons. Columbus opened the season with a sweep victory over El Campo. The Lady Cards went on to host the Columbus Varsity Volleyball Classic where they took the gold in the top bracket as the overall champions. Four Lady Cards earned their way to the All-Tournament Team as Ally Tribe, Caylie Neisner, Ember Mandola and Sage Thomas received the recognition.
Vs El Campo, W, 3-0
The Lady Cards got the season opener started with a dominating effort that they hope to continue all season. After a tight 25-20 set in the first game, the Lady Cards went on a tear defensively. They did not allow more than 14 points in either of the following two games in the sweep as they cruised to a big victory to start the season.
Several upperclassmen made big impacts for the Lady Cards in the opener. Sage Thomas finished with 24 setter assists and 11 digs for her first performance after her strong season last year. Caylie Neisner led the team in digs with 12 in the match. Claire Klausmeyer blocked three shots at the net and Ally Tribe led the team in kills with 12.
Vs Lexington, W, 2-0
The first match of the Columbus Varsity Volleyball Classic did not carry much drama for the Lady Cards as they took an easy victory over Lexington in the tourney opener. The Lady Eagles did not reach double digits in either game of the loss, falling 25-5 in game one and 25-9 in game two. Columbus dominated defensively and had an even spread of production throughout their offensive attack.
Sage Thomas set up 13 of her teammates for assists. Ally Tribe led the team in both kills and digs with seven and five respectively. Claire Klausmeyer had three assisted blocks at the net with one unassisted as she bolstered the Lady Cards’ strong net play.
Vs Victoria West, W, 2-0
The Lady Cards had a much more competitive match in the following competition as Victoria West scored well into double digits against the Columbus defense. However, the Lady Cards proved to be an imposing force as they took the first game by a 25-19 margin and the second by a score of 25-15.
The Lady Cards took advantage of some strong defensive play to help slow down their opponents. They combined for 24 digs led by Caylie Neisner’s seven. Sydnie Shepard chipped in five digs while Sage Thomas and Ally Tribe contributed four each. Tribe also added a team leading seven kills, closely followed by Ember Mandola who finished the ball six times.
Thomas distributed 17 setter assists throughout the match.
Vs Brazos, W, 2-0
Columbus kept their win streak going with another big win against the Brazos Lady Cougars. The Lady Cards dominated once again as they took a 25-14 victory in the first set, then a 25-15 win in game two.
They had several contributions on both sides of the ball as they kept up a connected effort throughout the game. Ally Tribe was a leader on the receiving side of the ball, finishing with eight digs for the defense. Caylie Neisner finished second on the team with seven digs. Sage Thomas had her first 20 setter assist match of the season with exactly 20 assists.
Tribe led the team in attacking with nine kills followed by Gracie Schobel and Ember Mandola with five and four kills respectively.
Vs East Bernard, W, 2-0
The following day brought a similar level of success for the Lady Cards. After a hard-fought first game, they followed with a stress-free win in the second with a 25-17 victory in game one and a 25-11 victory in game two.
Their defensive effort turned up a notch as they combined for 30 total digs against East Bernard. Sage Thomas and Ally Tribe combined for seven digs each to lead the team in that category. Sydnie Shepard added six digs for the defense. Ember Mandola led the team in kills with six scoring efforts. Many of her kills were off quality sets by Thomas who added 15 setter assists.
The Lady Cards had just one hitting error in the match.
Vs St. John XXIII, W, 2-1
The Lady Cards suffered their first lost set of the season as they faced off against the Lady Lions. The first set was a close matchup that saw Columbus take a 25-18 victory. The Lady Cards battled in the second set as well but fell just short in a 2521 loss. After a tight final set, Columbus took the advantage with a 15-12 victory to end the match.
A few players reached their early season highs after playing an intense game against a quality opponent. Sage Thomas finished with her second 20-assist match of the season and nearly had her first 30-bomb with 29 setter assists. Many of her passes flew in the direction of power- hitter Ally Tribe who finished with 18 kills to lead the team to go along with her team-leading 15 digs. Caylie Neisner finished with 10 digs while Thomas and Ashlyn Carter picked up eight digs each for the defense.
Claire Klausmeyer and Gracie Schobel combined for a few assisted blocks at the net with three blocks and two blocks respectively.
Vs Sealy, W, 2-0
Columbus played another strong game against the Sealy Lady Tigers as they bounced back to sweep their opponents. Sealy lost game one by a 25-12 margin before losing a point in the next game for a 25-11 loss.
Thomas assisted her teammates over 15 times with 16 setter assists on her line. Caylie Neisner and Ashlyn Carter led the team with six digs each.
Vs Schulenburg, W, 2-0
Following their last game of pool play, the Lady Cards entered the gold bracket with three of the other best teams in the tournament. Columbus took on Schulenburg in the semifinal where they had another dominating defensive effort in a sweep victory. They won game one 25-17 and game two 25-18.
Caylie Neisner, Ally Tribe and Sage Thomas led the way in digs with nine, eight and seven digs respectively for the defense.
Sage Thomas had a big game distributing the ball, passing out 24 setter assists. Tribe led the team with 12 kills followed by Taylor Morrow with eight.
Vs Victoria West, W, 2-0
The Lady Cards had no problems in the championship game as they cruised to an overall gold medal with a 25-16 win in game one and a 25-15 win in game two.
Columbus once again had some strong defensive numbers as Caylie Neisner and Sage Thomas each notched double-digit digs with 13 and 10 digs respectively. Ally Tribe finished just outside of double digits with nine digs. Tribe also finished with nine kills while her teammates Ember Mandola and Gracie Schobel finished with five kills each. Mandola also had a team-leading four blocks at the net with an assist on each of them.
Thomas finished with 19 setter assists to finish the tournament with another strong setting performance.
