Centennial's Jaycee Stuhr, left, and Kate Hirschfeld tip the ball over the net in the Broncos' match against Milford Sept. 14.
Malcolm hosted its annual Boosters Invitational Sept. 12 and 14.
Centennial finished 2-3, beating Fort Calhoun in its first match 25-14, 25-23, losing to Fairbury 20-25 25-22, 26-24, losing to Malcolm, falling to Milford 25-14, 25-11 and beating Elmwood-Murdock 25-19, 25-15.
“It was a tough tournament at Malcolm,” Coach Alex Anstine said.
CHS started off well against Fort Calhoun. Against Fairbury, however, mistakes started to creep in and the team got down on itself, Anstine said.
“Fairbury was not our best match,” she said. “We gave them too many free balls. We weren’t clicking.”
Saturday’s matches were a struggle for CHS, the coach said. The team seemed ready to go when it got off the bus, but in its first match against Malcolm, the Broncos seemed to have a mental collapse.
“Our serve receive was really bad,” she said. “It’s hard to dig out of that hole.”
Milford and Elmwood-Murdock rounded out the tournament for the Broncos. Anstine said the CHS hitters did a better job finding the court against Elmwood-Murdock, and the team limited its service errors.
Kaitlyn Fehlhafer notched 29 kills over the two-day competition, and Kate Hirschfeld added 28 for Centennial. Kiley Rathjen recorded 82 assists.
“On the way home the girls were tired,” Anstine said. “We talked about staying positive. It’s mental now. We need to focus on the positive.”
CHS opened the week with a 25-14, 25-20, 25-13 win over Sandy Creek.
“We were able to limit our mistakes and stay aggressive,” Anstine said.
She said Sandy Creek didn’t attack much, and that allowed the Broncos to run their offense in system for most of the night.
Fehlhafer led the team wtih 15 kills on 32 swings.
Centennial (6-6) was to visit Fairbury Sept. 17 and Sutton Thursday, Sept. 19, for a triangular. The Broncos travel to Wilber to play the Wolverines Tuesday, Sept. 24.
