GARDEN CITY – A revamped Great Bend volleyball lineup battled past Western Athletic Conference foes Garden City 25-17, 18-25, 25-22 and Liberal 25-23, 25-8 in Thursday’s season-opening matches.

Freshmen Mikayla Minton (6 winners) and Micah Ellegood and sophomore Alex Mayers backed up a varsity crew of Kara Feist (11 assists, 4 winners), Cassie Ellegood (2 blocks), Ava Kaiser (8 serves received, 5 digs) and Kya Behr (16 assists, 4 digs) against Liberal.

“We were pleased by our ability to move the ball to all our hitters,” said Great Bend coach Shelly Duvall. “It's fun to two freshmen and a sophomore help our top hitters. They showed the ability to play aggressive and keep the pressure on the defense. We tipped a few balls, but I liked the way we attacked."

Perennial WAC contender Garden City pushed the Panthers to three sets. Behr (83 assists, 17 serves, 16 digs, 5 winners) and Kaiser (21 serves received, 14 digs, 11 serves) led the way.

Others contributing were Feist (11 assists, 5 winners); Josephine Mazouch (9 serves received); Cassie Ellegood (8 winners, 2 blocks); Minton (6 winners) and Micah Ellegood (2 blocks).