LEXINGTON – It was an early morning for the Lexington and Cozad volleyball teams, as they squared off with one another kicking off the Lexington volleyball invite Saturday morning at Lexington High School.
Cozad came out firing on all cylinders, pushing the Maids to the limit, but in the end, Lexington prevailed in two sets, 25-23 and 25-18.
“I am very proud of the way the girls competed in this game,” Cozad coach Mary Gohl said. “The girls played aggressive on offense but we made too many mental errors down the stretch.”
Cozad took an early lead in the first set, while Lexington was trying to get settled into a rhythm. Lexington clawed their way back into the first set, eventually pulling ahead and taking the first set 25-23.
The second set started in the Lady Haymakers’ favor, shooting out to a 15-9 lead and looking to force a decisive third game. Lexington played mistake-free volleyball down the stretch, forcing Cozad to make errors on defense, as Cicely Batie and Hailey Mandelko finished off Cozad, outscoring Cozad 16-3 in the final half of the second set, as Lexington took the match in straight sets.
The win for Lexington brought them to .500 at 1-1 and also giving coach Erica Burson her first win as head coach of the Minutemaids.
Cozad fell to 0-2, but there was still plenty of volleyball to be played that afternoon.
Lexington moved on to play Holdrege in their second game of the invite. The Dusters hung with Lexington most of the match and scored points when necessary, as they took down Lexington in straight sets, 25-23 and 25-22.
Holdrege moved onto play in the finals against St. Paul, who knocked off McCook and Hershey to make the finals.
Lexington moved into the consolation bracket, where they took on Hershey in the third-place game.
The Maids dominated game one, but Hershey mounted a huge comeback, upsetting the Minutemadis in three sets to take third place, 15-25, 25-21, 26-24.
The loss gave Lexington fourth place overall for the invite, as their record now stands at 1-3 on the season.
Cozad struggled down the stretch during the afternoon, as the Lady Makers were downed by Chase County 25-15, 25-17, and Broken Bow 25-12, 25-19.
Gohl however was impressed by the play of her girls over the weekend despite losing all three games.
“This was a great tournament for us, “Gohl said. “It allowed us to move some girls around and get a good feel for where everyone needs to be playing. Even though we couldn’t come away with a win, we came away with many good things from this tournament.”
Lexington traveled to Grand Island for the Northwest Triangular Tuesday, while Cozad will be at North Platte St. Pat’s on Thursday. Results will bei n the Saturday issue of the Clipper-Herald.

• Cozad Haymakers
• Lexington Minutemen

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