A season for the record books, Wildcat volleyball goes 27-6 2022 team sets record for most wins
by Diane Stamm
Grant tribune-sentinel
The 2022 Wallace volleyball team has plenty to celebrate.
The Wildcats finished the season 27-6, setting a record for the most wins by a Wallace volleyball team.
The team found other ways to shake up the record books, as well.
School record for career aces was Karlie Finley with 137 and Kendyl Flaming #2 with 126.
Single season Kendyl moved to #2 with 232 points scored, Kaley Sauser #3 with 229 points scored.
Senior Karlie Finley tied for first in single match points scored, 22, and finished the season third on the single season kills list, 310.
Freshman Kaley Sauser set the single season assists record, 590, and single match assist record, 42.
Junior Skyler Kuhlman moved into second in single match aces with seven.
Junior Kendyl Flaming jumped to third in single match kills, 21; Finley was the leader of the team.
Wallace Head Coach Krystal Sauser said she can’t say enough about Finley.
“She is the player you can count on when things are tough, she has the ability to stay level headed and do what needs to be done. Karlie embraced her role this year as a leader and found her voice on and off the court. She will be greatly missed and extremely. hard to replace,” Sauser said.
Following Finley’s lead were six underclassmen, juniors Brooke Bryant, Reagan Pelster, Kuhlman and Flaming, and freshmen Sauser and Mariana Aceves-Lopez.
Sauser said it is exciting to know the Wildcats have six of the seven starters returning next year with the majority of those going to be seniors.
“Their experience on the court will be invaluable,” she added.
Of the teams six losses on the season, five came to state qualifiers, and the Wildcats claimed fourth in the tough RPAC tournament.
“At the beginning of the year, we talked about lacking confidence in themselves. It was exciting to see their confidence grow with each game they were able to win. Win or lose the girls were able to learn and grow mentally and physically,” Sauser said.
Paxton only lost seven games on the year, but four came at the hands of Wallace, including what Sauser considers the Wildcats’ best game all season, a win in subdistrict.
“It is never easy playing a team that many times. Each time it was more difficult but the girls knew what needed to be done and executed what we had worked on and talked about during practice to the best of their abilities,” Sauser said.
Handing Potter-Dix its first loss on the season also ranks high on Sauser’s list, as does winning the Brady and Paxton tournaments.
Advancing to the district finals game against Stuart was a big moment for the team, but the loss in the game, ending Wallace’s season, was Sauser’s low for the year.
“This was an amazing group of girls to work with. It was fun to have a group of girls that got along and worked so well together as a team. We can’t wait until next year to build upon the success the girls were able to achieve this year,” Sauser said.