Lady Cards finish second in Host Tournament

The Columbus Lady Cardinals got their season started by hosting their annual Columbus Varsity Volleyball Classic on Thursday, Aug. 15, right here in Columbus.

The Lady Cards won all their pool games before entering bracket play on Saturday, Aug. 17, where they lost in the championship game to Victoria West, earning themselves a silver medal.

Despite finishing in second, the Lady Cards put forth a very valiant effort and answered a lot of off-season questions. Some of the questions were how they were going to respond this season after losing two pilers on the volleyball court in Sage Thomas and Ally Tribe.

Games started as early as 8 a.m. but the Lady Cards did not get their first taste of game act on until 3 p.m. They finally took the court against the La Grange Lady Leopards after waiting all day to play the Lady Cards put on a show.

The returning players Caylie Neisner, Gracie Schobel and Taylor Morrow had a great opening game. They know the system already, what the standard is, and how to execute it at a high level.

The Lady Cards beat La Grange in back-to-back sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-20. Their next was shortly after against Brazos but this time the Lady Cards showed off the depth of their talent pool.

While the trio of returners continued to have a great tournament in game two the likes of Abigail Fisher, Harper Gerik, Riley Kainer and Emma Calhoun were starting to make some noise as well. This group brings nothing energy and effort to the floor, and they helped drive the Lady Cards past Brazos in two sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-8.

They concluded day one of the tournament by handing Burton a loss in two sets with final scores of 25-17 and 25-18.

The Lady Cards stacked up three more wins in day two of the tournament, earning themselves a spot in the Gold Bracket on Saturday. In bracket play the Lady Cards ran into Burton once more and the Lady Cards pushed past them in two sets again.

This set them up for a matchup against Victoria West and this is where the Lady Cards were handed their first loss of the year. It took three sets to decide the winner with the Lady Cards taking the first set 25-21.

The next two sets went to Victoria West by scores of 25-19 and 25-15 to crown Victoria West the tournament champion.

With the tournament in the rearview the Lady Cards season rolls on as they are scheduled to play two games this week against Brenham on Tuesday, Aug. 20, on the road and Weimar on Thursday, Aug. 22, in Schulenburg.