Volleyball

Most coaches will tell you that they see the biggest improvement from the first matches of the season to the second date when they play.Perhaps that is the way Garden City High School girls’ volleyball coach Trista Bailey saw her team’s split of a triangular on Thursday night at The Garden with Western Athletic Conference foes Liberal and Great Bend.In their opening match with Liberal’s Reds, the Buffs stormed out to a 10-1 lead and were never headed in a 25-9 romp before rallying from a 17-20 deficit in the second set to prevail 25-22.Against Great Bend, the defending WAC champions, it was just a reversal from the Liberal match at the visiting Panthers hit the Buffs with a 7-1 start, led 12-4 and 16-5 before the hosts made a bit of a mini-run only to drop a 17-25 set to begin the final best 2-of-3 match.Perhaps the mini-run in the late stages of Set 1 enabled the Buffs to begin Set 2 in a hotly-contest battle.

HUTCHINSON - There are a multitude of reasons why Garden City High School volleyball coach Trista Bailey enjoys opening each fall campaign with a trip to Hutchinson.

Most coaches will tell you that the first game of a new season is always the toughest for which to prepare with many unknowns.So, when in 2023 the Kansas State High School Activities Association, Kansas’ governing body for high schools, allowed one preseason Jamboree of two opponents to be contested, many coaches around the state were elated.Count Trista Bailey as one of the biggest proponents of the one-day Jamboree.Tuesday night at The Garden, the Buffs hosted Class 3A Lakin and Class 2A Meade and Bailey’s Class 6A were glad to have someone else on the opposite side of the net.“We were able to get some of those first-game jitters out of the way,” Bailey said.