Lady Hornets volleyball team upends NCMC foe Kirksville

KIRKSVILLE - Sophomore middle hitter Jaiden Sanders and senior middle hitter Hannah Cerda combined for 15 kills Tuesday night to spark the Fulton Lady Hornets volleyball team to a 25-18, 25-22 NCMC triumph over Kirksville.

Sanders logged a team-high eight kills and Cerda supplied seven as Fulton improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the North Central Missouri Conference. Senior setter Kenzie Shaw also chipped in with 19 assists, six digs and seven aces for the Lady Hornets, while sophomore outside hitter Kate Pani also had six digs.

"We went out really strong and momentum was definitely in our favor," Fulton head coach Megan Youse said. "Then Kirksville came up with a big kill and momentum shifted to them and we didn't really recover until the end of the first game.

"Then in the second game we had a lot of unforced errors early on, but suddenly again, momentum shifted back to us. ...Thankfully, we were the comeback kids and pulled it out."

The Lady Hornets (3-2) dropped the junior varsity match 25-19, 23-25 and 15-7. Junior outside hitter Katlyn Jackson topped Fulton with eight kills, junior outside hitter Sydney Dungan registered nine digs and junior setter Colleen Van Norman tallied 13 assists and five aces.

Fulton (1-2-1) lost the freshman match 25-11 and 25-9. Defensive specialist Reagan Verwys recorded two digs, right-side hitter Ashleigh Jackson contributed two aces and setter Rileigh Huffman had two assists.

The Lady Hornets host Boonville in an NCMC tripleheader at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.