Offensive woes continued to haunt the PCC volleyball team in its conference opener against Seward County on Wednesday. After winning the first set 25-22, the Beavers dropped the next three 25-15, 25-16, 25-13. Pratt hit only .060 for the night.
The Kansas State Wildcats open the 2010 football season this Saturday as they host the Bruins of UCLA from the Pac-10 Conference. The Bruins, like K-State, are picked to finish near the middle of the pack in its conference but unlike the Wildcats played in a bowl game last year. K-State was 6-6 last year and 4-4 in Big 12 play.
In the second meet of the season, the Pratt High girls tennis team finished in fourth place at the Hillsboro Invitational Tuesday.
The meet started with pool play before being placed in the bracket to compete for a place. Both Lauren McClain and Adele Loomis, competing at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively, placed third in the meet, going 1-1 in pool play and winning the third place game. Coach Larry Kahmeyer said Loomis had a very tough matchup against Brenda Sanchez from Hesston.
The Pratt High JV girls tennis team fielded two teams in Tuesday’s JV home meet at the Walter Blake Tennis Complex, with the Pratt Green team taking first overall in the event.
Third place medalists were Allison Evans at No. 1 singles and Anecia Violetti at No. 2 singles. The No. 2 doubles team of Cinthya Ibarra and Lindsay Naumann also placed third. The No. 1 doubles team of Naomi Burrell and Jessica Miracle placed second.
The Pratt Green team narrowly edged Lyons and Kingman to take first in the meet with a score of 18.
“Overall, we had a really good day today,” said JV coach Tate Thompson. “We fielded two full teams for the JV tournament and got the opportunity to put our young or inexperienced players in some competitive slots, which will bode well for them in the long run.”
The JV team will play next on Sept. 7 at Russell.
The Pratt High girls golf team opened up its season Tuesday at the Nickerson Invitational Golf Tournament at the Highlands Golf Course.
Of the 12 teams competing, Pratt finished fourth behind Andale, Cheney and Maize with a combined score of 239.
Coming off a conference win on Friday, the Pratt Community College women’s soccer team squared off in a non-conference match on Tuesday. This was PCC’s first contest at their temporary home pitch in Havilland, and the win moved them to 2-0 on the season.
Skyline fans got a taste of the fall sports season last night when the school held their fall scrimmages and Fall Feed.
The volleyball teams got things started, with the middle shcool team playing the JV team before the varsity squad took on a group of alumni.
Following that scrimmage, the varsity football team took the field and played against each other, with Coach Jon Novotny calling the offensive plays while Assistant Andrew Nation ran the defense. Teams were divided up by Novotny, and provided a good mix of players on both sides, keeping things interesting for the fans.
The event also included food, with the school serving dinner to all T-Bird Club members for free, with non-members paying $4.
Pratt High girls tennis coach Larry Kahmeyer admitted that he’s never had a girls tennis team start two freshmen at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. But, there’s a first time for everything.
Lauren McClain and Adele Loomis made their debut on the varsity tennis team Thursday, playing at the two singles positions and performing well.
Last year, Sarah Mason led the girls golf team throughout the season, carding low scores and helping the team any way she could.
Now, it will be up to a trio of seniors to pick up the slack and lead the team against new teams from the Central Kansas League.
Last year’s Pratt High volleyball team set a school record for wins and leaned heavily on a talented group of seniors. This year’s senior class has just three members, Rystal Hoeme, Breanna Blankenship and Emma McNay. That leaves plenty of room for younger players to make their mark. Coach Dean Rausch hopes they will sooner rather than later.
Skyline scrimmages tonight
Teams from Skyline will scrimmage tonight as the school prepares to get the fall season underway. Parents meetings are also tonight, as well as the T-Bird Club Fall Feed at 6 p.m. Food at the Fall Feed will be $4 for non T-Bird Club members.
The middle school volleyball team will scrimmage the JV team at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity to scrimmage to follow at 6 p.m. Middle school football will start at 6 p.m. with the high school team taking the field at 7 p.m. The cross country team will have a meeting at 5 p.m.
Skyline and Pratt high schools have both been practicing in full force in anticipation of the coming season. The following are facts about local teams by the numbers.
1 – Number of teams on this year’s PHS Varsity football schedule that they also played last year. The team? Kingman, which Pratt beat 50-0 on the road.
Lady T-Bird volleyball coach Summer Younie knows her team has some rebuilding to do this season. Losing seven seniors can do that to a team.
“We lost seven seniors last year, and seven that played quite a bit too,” she said. “So we’re trying to fill some holes. We have seven seniors out this year, but only three of them have major varsity experience.”
After finishing sixth at the State meet last season, Coach Eric Bronson has high expectations for this year’s squad that only lost two seniors.
“I think we can do even bigger and better with the girls this year,” Bronson said. “I fully expect to return to State this year and hopefully we can finish in the top three. That’s my optimistic goal so far.”
Curt Gowdy, Pat Sumerall, Harry Caray, Keith Jackson, Jim Nantz, Howard Cosell, and more recently the stars of ESPN, all had their humble beginnings, perhaps even as sportscasters at a community college. And now two bright and talented PHS graduates, Will Shoup and Spencer Sinclair, will get a start in the business. Shoup and Sinclair have been selected to be the voice(s) of the Beavers for live Web casts of this year’s home sports contests.
Pratt High School KAY Club will carry out its annual Canned Food Drive at the upcoming PHS Soap Bowl on Friday, Aug. 27.
A canned food donation will serve as admission to the Soap Bowl activities. Donations accepted include canned as well as boxed, non-perishable food items.
All donations will be delivered to the local food bank for use by Pratt
residents. Soap Bowl activities are as follows:
5:30 p.m.- Volleyball introductions and scrimmage (PHS Gym)
6:15 p.m.- Freshman Football scrimmage (Zerger Field)
7:00 p.m.- Cross Country introductions and run at Zerger Field
7:10 p.m.- Introduction of Fall athletes and cheerleaders (Zerger Field):
Cheerleaders
Girls Golf
Girls Tennis
Freshman Football
Varsity Football
7:30 p.m.- Varsity Football scrimmage
Also on tap for the evening is the PHS Booster Club's membership drive and hamburger feed. The group will begin selling memberships and serving hamburgers at 5:30 p.m. at Zerger Field. All fall athletes and Booster Club members are invited to attend.
For Pratt High cross country coach Kathy Hitz, this season of cross country will be largely unfamiliar.
For starters, of her 21 runners, 11 are new to the team, with seven of the newcomers joining as incoming freshmen. On top of that, like all Pratt sports, the cross country team will face a brand new league that nobody knows a whole lot about.
Bringing in Coach Kevin Kewley, a former coach of the Wichita Wings and a longtime club soccer coach in the Wichita area, brings a certain amount of credibility to the new men’s soccer program at Pratt Community College.
Members of the Pratt High School Cross Country team warm up on the track before heading out for a two-mile run on their ‘easy’ day. The team is young, but Coach Kathy Hitz is excited to see how this team will compete in a brand new conference against new runners. Look for more on the cross country team in Monday’s Tribune.
It’s a hectic time for PCC women’s soccer coach Jerrid Schicke.
The first-year coach has a lot on his plate as he tries to prepare his young team for their first match on Aug. 27. Wander into the soccer office and you’ll probably find a hectic scene. In addition to preparing for the season, he also has to keep track of his players and make sure that every one of them is set up to succeed, both on and off the soccer pitch.
