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The Columbus Lady Cardinals traveled to Schulenburg on Tuesday, Sept. 10, where they were defeated by the Shorthorns for their eighth loss of the season.
Despite the loss the Lady Cards turned a lot of heads on Tuesday night by coming back from being down 2-0 after two sets.
The match started with the Shorthorns feeling confident on their home court. They fed off the buzz coming from their home crowd and went to work offensively.
The Lady Cards were ready for the challenge and kept things close and bought enough time for their offense to get a rhythm. They kept up with the Shorthorns but could never get over the hump and recapture the lead late, leading to a loss in the first set 25-19.
There was no panic on the bench for the Lady Cards, as they have the leadership and enough experienced players to know that they still have a chance in this game. With the leadership group of Taylor Morrow, Gracie Schobel and Caylie Neisner taking charge in the second set, the Lady Cards came back with a vengeance.
In yet another close set, the Shorthorns escaped with a win by only two points with a 25-23 final. Down two sets, the Lady Cards were tired of being denied victory and started the third set with a little bit of an edge to their game.
Each spike and point earned by the Lady Cards was a message to the Shorthorns saying, “we’re still here”. The Lady Cards offense returned to form in the third set with a healthy dose of Morrow, Schobel, Harper Gerik and Riley Kainer all chipping in for the offensive effort along.
The Lady Cards won the third set 25-20 and they were just getting started. With their backs still against the wall the Lady Cards continued to push back to give themselves a chance in this game.
While the usual suspects were playing at a high level offensively the Lady Cards also received help off the bench to help get themselves back into the game. Kyndal Kuhn, Emma Calhoun and Mary Fitzgerald lent their services to the comeback effort and it played off in a big way for the Lady Cards.
The fourth set was identical to the third set with the Lady Cards offense firing on all cylinders and the defense keeping a cushion on the scoreboard. The Lady Cards picked up the win in the fourth set with a score of 25-19 setting the stage for an exciting third set.
The fifth set was the most competitive set, for obvious reasons, neither team gave an inch but only one could be declared the winner. The Shorthorns were able to string together some points in the fifth set with the Lady Cards being unable to climb back up the mountain, finishing the match with a score of 15-8.
The loss stings there is no doubt about that, but the Lady Cards had a lot of positives to take away from this loss before hosting their cross-county rival on their home court Friday night.
