Highland Community College fall sports were in full swing over the weekend with the volleyball team hitting the court Friday night, the football team opening their season on Saturday and the Highland men's cross country team in action, also.

Highland Lady Scotties Move to .500 Early in the Volleyball Season

Looking to get to .500 early in the season and put together their first winning streak of the season Highland welcomed Doane College JV to town and topped them in five sets to improve to 3-3 on the season.

Doane College took set one in a highly contested set winning 25-21, but the Scotties answered back by taking set two, winning the set by 12 points, 25-13. The teams traded sets in set three and four as Doane College claimed set three 25-21 and Highland won set four 25-15, forcing a fifth set in the matchup.

Three players paced the offense for the Scotties on the night each finishing with double digit kills as Leah Rader (Joplin, MO), Kaitlyn Koch (Centralia, KS) and Briley Ware (Arkansas City, KS) posted 16, 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Rader added 12 digs and three blocks to her night. Ashton Dorr (Burlingame, KS) and Michaela Serrioz (Gardner, KS) set up the offense with 25 and 20 assists each on the night. Megan Lockwood (Silver Lake, KS) and Sabina Szmajduch (Rynbnik, Poland) both posted double figure digs during the match with 18 and 10, respectively.

Lady Scotties continue conference play on Wednesday on the round at Coffeyville CC at 6:00pm and then will host their annual HCC Invitational Friday and Saturday, September 5th and 6th.

Scotties Open Football Season with Tough Road Loss at Garden City
(football info courtesy of gobroncobusters.com -- Garden City CC athletic website)

The College football season kicked off on Saturday for many and the Highland Community College Scotties were looking to start the season off strong under new Head Coach, Aaron Arnold as they traveled to Garden City.

Ultimate it was the Bronco Busters of Garden City claiming the 29-26 win over Highland, sending the Scotties to 0-1 to start the season.

Highland struck first in the game with a field with just under 10:30 left in the first quarter, but after a Scottie turnover Garden City had the ball inside the five and looked to take the lead. Scotties held Garden City to a field goal to tie the game at 3-3. The lead was regained by Highland when Isaiah Ming picked up a fumble on a botched play for the Scotties and scored but Garden City added a score of their own to tie it at 10-10 going into halftime.

To start the second half Garden City scored first on a 32-yard touchdown pass, but responded with a rushing touchdown by Cedrix Reed to tie game at 17-17, apiece. Garden City grabbed the lead again on a rushing touchdown and lead 23-17, with an extra point coming but Highland blocked the PAT and ran it back 90 yards for two points and it was 23-19.

Highland then took the lead for the first time in the second half, scoring on a Rasheed Berry fumble recovery making it 26-23 with just less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. Garden City with about seven minutes remaining regained the lead scoring on a three yard touchdown run after a big pass play set up the score. With a missed extra point Garden City led 29-26 and went on to grab the win.

Scotties start the year 0-1 and hit the field again next Saturday, September 6th at home against Benedictine JV at 12:00pm.

Highland Men's Cross Country Team Competes at Bob Timmons Classic (full results)

Highland Men's cross country team took on some top notch competition in runners from the University of Kansas, UMKC, Oral Roberts and Iowa Western CC at the Bob Timmons Classic at Rim Rock in Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday.

Brian Martinez (Pasadena, TX) paced the Scotties on the day in the 6K competition finishing 15th out of 53 competitors, posting a time of 20:35.4. Fellow sophomore, Ronnie Carroll (Smyrna, DE) finished in the Top 30 on the day placing 28th after notching a time of 21:24.7.

Four more Scotties finished in the Top 40 on the day, as Corey Scott (Pasadena, TX), Fernando Lucero (Rio Rancho, NM), Christian Salazar (San Antonio, TX) and Rey Quinones-Velez (Clermont, FL) finished 32nd, 33rd, 39th and 40th, respectively on the day.

Five more Scotties also ran on the day as Derrick Zaldivar (Topeka, KS) finished 42nd, Coner Reed (Dadedville, AL) and Carlos Gonzalez-Tabares (Jacksonville, FL) placed 45th and 46th, respectively. While, Quinton Phillips (North Platte, NE) and Adrian Sias (Wichita Falls, TX) each finished 47th and 49th on the day.

Scotties will next be in action on Friday, September 5th at the NWMSU Bearcat Open in Maryville, MO at 6:00pm, while the women's cross country team will next been in action on Saturday, September 6th at Baker University in Baldwin City, KS.