BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

There's something magical when Great Bend's athletic Valarie Luna soars for a winner. Luna uses her vertical jump to crush 11 winners that led to a sweep of 6A Campus 25-20, 25-19.

When 5A Great Bend (14-11) mixes winners from Luna with inspired play by Cassie Ellegood, Kara Feist and Makenzie Premer, the Panthers can compete with anybody. Luna closed out the first set with a winner that followed back-to-back winners by the athletic Premer. Lauryn Davis, Sadie Spray and Rylie Duvall also contributed winners that led to a sweep of Campus.

6A Campus (11-16) was sparked by the feisty play of Makenzie O'Bryan and Taryn Kondo. Time-after-time, O'Bryan kept the Colts within range in both sets. The Panthers gave away 10 points with errors in the first set.

The second set matched the first set as the Panthers finally broke away from a 17-17 tie after Premer's winner was preceded by defensive saves by Kara Feist and Ellegood. Luna delivered four points off her service as Feist contributed a winner for a 20-17 lead.

Premer delivered back-to-back winners followed by Ellegood's winner for a 24-19 lead when Campus made an error for the final point. The Panthers made eight errors and the Colts missed eight attempts.

The Panthers pushed 5A Goddard Eisenhower (21-7) before losing a highly competitive 3-set match 25-16, 16-25, 25-16. Again, when the Panthers played their best volleyball they edged Eisenhower in the second set. But Eisenhower took charge in the final set.

It records stay the same, the 11th-seeded Panthers would draw the No. 6 seeded Tigers in postseason 5A substate play at Andover. The Panthers would join No. 3 Andover Central (26-7) and Hays High (13-15).

The Panthers travel to Emporia Thursday to play No. 4 seeded 5A Emporia and state-ranked 2A Hillsboro.

5A PROJECTED SUBSTATES

1 Maize South 19-3 vs. Salina South 12-20/Goddard 2-17 winner; 8 Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel 20-14 vs. Newton 16-12

2 Hutchinson High 27-5 vs. Maize High 10-12/Salina Central 2-20 winner; 7 Topeka West 18-9 vs. Valley Center 16-12

3 Andover Central 26-7 vs. Hays High 13-15; 6 Goddard Eisenhower 21-7 vs. Great Bend 14-11

4 Emporia 21-6 vs. Arkansas City 14-12; 5 Wichita Carroll 16-5 vs. Andover High 14-12