Illness, tough schedule leads to Cardinals losing first five matches

RANDOLPH – The Randolph Lady Cardinal volleyball team opened the 2024 campaign with five losses, but with a dose of confidence, the first win is inevitable.

But, confidence is a fickle beast and sometimes very difficult to find.

“We started rough as we continue to look for that first win,” said Randolph volleyball coach, Lyndsee English. “We started with a tough schedule of schools that are Class C1 and C2, but I feel like we should’ve played much better against these teams. We are lacking confidence and that’s something we have been talking about a lot. It’s hard to find confidence when you aren’t winning. But we have to think like winners in order to win.”

To compound the Lady Cardinal woes here at the beginning of the season, three players were out with illnesses and in a triangular at Cedar Catholic one of the starting setters was out.

“We had practiced without her . . . but it does affect kids when a starter is missing,” English said.

Randolph finished the opening week in the Howells-Dodge Tournament where they were beaten in the four-team affair three times.

The Lady Cardinal opened the tournament with a 25-11, 25-9 loss to Hartington-Newcastle.

“We were still missing Brooke Meier due to illness and we didn’t start off the day well against Hartington-Newcastle,” English said. “But one positive was our serve-receive seemed better. Peyton Thelen played well on the right side as did Lilly Kuchta at libero.”

Kuchta had eight digs in the match while Thelen had four.

In the second round of the round-robin tournament, the Lady Cardinal dropped a match to Howells-Dodge 25-15 and 25-6.

Lexi Backhaus had nine set assists. Katarina Greiner had an ace serve and eight digs and Kuchta recorded six digs.

Alaina Schulz, Mabel Ngebeh and Sydney Robinson each had two kills in the match.

In the third match of the day, Randolph fell to Winside 25-16 and 25-11 in the Lady Cardinals closest match of the young season.

“We were excited to play someone our own size finally but we couldn’t come out on top,” English said. “The first set was evenly matched but we let Winside go on a little run and we couldn’t make up the difference.”

Backhaus recorded a double-double in the match with 11 set assists and 13 digs. Greiner had three aces serves and four kills and Kuchta added eight digs.

In the opening night of the season in Hartington against Homer and Cedar Catholic, the Lady Cardinals struggled against Homer and fell, 25-3 and 25-9.

“We wanted to quickly put that match behind us and move forward,” English said. “It’s something we keep working on, forget about the last mistake and move forward.”

Randolph played better against Cedar Catholic before dropping the match 25-10 and 25-16.

Ngebeh had two kills and Kuchta had five digs. Randolph is scheduled for another road match as they head east on Highway 20 to take on Laurel-Concord-Coleridge on Sept. 5.

The Lady Cardinals then entertain Hartington-Newcastle on Sept. 9 before hitting the road again to take on Ponca Sept. 10.

“I know the girls can play better, we just need to find that confidence and build on it,” English said. “They don’t like losing and that should be an incentive to make themselves better every day.”

HOWELLS-DODGE TOURNAMENT Hartington-Newcastle defeats Randolph 25-11, 25-9.

Sydney Robinson 1 block; Katarina Greiner 1 block, 3 digs; Lexi Backhaus 3 set assists, 4 digs; Lilly Kuchta 8 digs; Peyton Thelen 4 digs.

Howells-Dodge defeats Randolph 25-15, 25-6.

Katarina Greiner 1 ace serve, 8 digs; Alaina Schulz 1 ace serve, 2 kills; Mabel Ngebeh 2 kills; Sydney Robinson 2 kills; Lilly Kuchta 6 digs; Lexi Backhaus 9 set assists.

Winside defeats Randolph 25-16, 25-11.

Greiner 3 ace serves, 4 kills; Schulz 3 kills; Ngebeh 3 kills, 6 digs; Jenna Guenther 2 kills; Backhaus 11 set assists, 13 digs; Kuchta 8 digs; Delayne Thelen 4 digs.

CEDAR CATHOLIC TRIANGULAR Homer defeats Randolph 25-3, 25-9.

Schulz 2 kills; Ngebeh 2 kills; Kuchta 2 set assists; Backhaus 2 set assists, 5 digs; D. Thelen 5 digs.

Cedar Catholic defeats Randolph 25-10, 25 16.

Ngebeh 2 kills, Greiner 2 ace serves; Backhaus 3 set assists; Kuchta 5 digs.