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Sports

Lady Wolves finish volleyball regular season with wins

Dalhart starts playoffs Saturday

BY BILL KELLY
Dalhart Texan

The Dalhart Lady Wolves played two home games and one away game to finish off the regular season in volleyball, taking on Bushland at home on October 13, playing at River Road on October 17, and playing Dimmitt at home on Tuesday October 20. While the Lady Wolves fell to Bushland, they beat River Road 3-1 and swept Dimmitt to enter the playoffs on a winning streak.

Bushland won over the Lady Wolves on October 13, taking the first set 25-16 and both the second and third set 25-14 for a 3-0 win. There was some controversy on social media after the game due to Bushland students turning their backs to the court as the Dalhart players were introduced, and due to some comments being yelled by Bushland students during the game.

Kaetlin Sundvahl led Dalhart with 14 kills, and Joie Read had 11 kills, and Sundvahl, Read and Audrey Hobbs each had one block. Alyra Rivera had 12 assists and Sundvahl had six assists. Addysin Carnesecca had 12 digs, Kambry Kitchens had six digs, and Kaelyn Speer had five digs.

The Lady Wolves traveled to River Road on Saturday October 17. The teams went back-and-forth early in the first set, with multiple ties including at 8-8. Read served an ace, and then Sundvahl scored a kill of an assist by Rivera to make it 10-8. Kills by Sundvahl and Austen Lusk expanded the lead to 12-8. River Road scored two straight, then a kill by Sundvahl and a serve by Aubree Ramires that wasn’t returned gave Dalhart a 14-10 lead.

Dalhart maintained a three to five point lead until River Road closed the gap to 19-17. An error on River Road and a kill by Maegyn Smallwood expanded the lead to 21-17, then a couple of more errors made it 23-17 Dalhart. The Lady Wolves won the set 25-18, with Read scoring a kill for set point off an assist by Sundvahl, giving Dalhart a 1-0 lead.

River Road was able to win the second set 26-24 to tie the game at 1-1. In the third set, River Road was unable to return Rivera’s first three serves, and then Sundvahl scored a kill to give Dalhart an early 4-0 lead. The teams exchanged a few points, then Smallwood scored a kill off an assist by Rivera to expand Dalhart’s lead to 7-2. The Lady Cats closed the gap until it was 9-6, then Smallwood scored on a block to give Dalhart a 10-6 lead. The Lady Wolves slowly expanded the lead, with River Road being unable to return one Carnesecca serve and then Carnesecca scoring an ace to make it 14-7. The Lady Wolves ended up winning the third set 25-20 to take a 2-1 lead in the game.

Dalhart took an early lead in the fourth set and slowly extended it until a kill off a free ball by Smallwood made it 10-4. Read, Sundvahl and Hobbs each scored a kill as Dalhart made it 13-7, and River Road was unable to return the next serve by Carnesecca, which made it 14-7. The Lady Wolves won that set 25-19, with River Road returning a serve by Sundvahl out of bounds for match point. Dalhart won the game 3-1.

Sundvahl had 19 kills, Read scored 10 kills, and Smallwood had nine kills for Dalhart. Smallwood also had the team’s only block. Ramirez and Carnesecca each had two aces. Rivera had 24 assists and Sundvahl had 12 assists. Carnesecca had 22 digs, Kitchens had 17 digs, and Sundvahl and Rivera had nine digs each. 

The game against Dimmitt on October 20 was also Senior Night, and seniors Sundvahl, Carnesecca, Kitchens, Roxy Alvidrez and Read were honored prior to the game and also had a “Signing-Out” ceremony after the game in which each put her handprint on a paper volleyball. 

The Lady Wolves scored the first five points of the first set, which included an ace by Ramirez and a kill by Hobbs. A kill by Kaelyn Speer, an ace by Carnesecca, and three straight aces by Rivera helped extend the lead to 10-2. Dalhart won that first set 25-13, with Dimmitt returning a serve by Smallwood into the net for set point. Dalhart won the second set 25-12 and the third set 25-9 to win the game 3-0. 

Sundvahl and Read had nine kills each, and Hobbs had four kills. Hobbs and Smallwood each had one block. Ramirez had four aces, and Rivera and Carnesecca each had three aces. Sundvahl led the team with 14 assists and Rivera had eight assists. Carnesecca had eight digs, Sundvahl had five digs, and Kitchens had four digs. 

In the final district standings, Bushland was 8-0 and in first place. Dalhart was 6-2 and in second place, Friona was 4-4 in third, River Road was 2-6 in fourth, and Dimmitt was 0-8 and in last place. Bushland is first seed in Division I and Dalhart is second seed, and Friona is first seed in Division II and River Road is second seed. Oddly enough, despite losing to Dalhart twice, Friona probably has an easier opponent for their first playoff game. 

The Lady Wolves will play Shallowater in the Bi-District round of the playoffs on Halloween, this Saturday, October 31. The game will be at Caprock High School in Amarillo and will start at 2 p.m. The winner will take on the winner between Presidio and Brownfield.

 

 

Male Athlete of the Week

The Rahll Activity Center Male Athlete of the Week is Andrew Ramos. Ramos is a junior on the Dalhart Golden Wolves football team, and this is his first time to be named athlete of the week. 

Ramos has received more playing time as the season has gone on, but he’s been used much more over the past two games. Ramos scored three touchdowns against Brownfield a few weeks ago in short yardage situations, and has received a few kickoffs during the season. 

Ramos had his best game yet last Friday against Denver City. He ran the ball nine times for 73 yards, leading Dalhart’s running backs in rushing. (Quarterback Kaleb Speer ran for more yards, but Ramos led the players listed as running backs.) Ramos scored two touchdowns as well. One of them was a one-yard run. The other was a spectacular play as Ramos ran 47 yards. He slipped past one defender at about the 15, then was hit by another a couple of yards later. Ramos basically dragged that Denver City player to the four, when two others also hit him, and Ramos just dragged all three into the end zone, refusing to be brought down. On top of what he did on offense, Ramos also recovered one fumble on defense. 

The Wolves play Shallowater on the road tomorrow night, with the winner taking sole possession of first place in the district. If Ramos and his teammates can play the way they have the past few games, they should have a good chance at winning that game. 

Honorable Mention: 

Kaleb Speer: Dalhart football. Speer is a senior and was athlete of the week earlier in the season. He completed 16-of-20 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns against Denver City on October 23. He also ran the ball five times for 89 yards, leading the team in rushing. Speer also played defense against Denver City, and has two solo tackles. 

Bay Wing: Dalhart football. Wing is a senior and was athlete of the week a few weeks ago. He caught six passes for 78 yards and one touchdown, leading the team in receiving against Denver City. Wing also led the team on defense with nine tackles, including four for a loss. 

Eli Garcia: Dalhart football. Garcia is a senior on the Golden Wolves football team. He had three catches for 33 yards against Denver City, with two of those catches going for touchdowns. Garcia has two tackles with one for a loss on defense. 

Luis Deleon: Dalhart football. Deleon is a senior and was athlete of the week earlier in the season. He had four carries for 33 yards and one touchdown last Friday against Denver City, and also caught three passes for 21 yards. On defense, Deleon had six tackles with two for a loss.