Staff writer
Although the Lady Cougars failed to advance out of pool play Saturday at Centre’s invitational volleyball tournament, they put up a good fight, winning one of three games in the first two matches against Marion and Little River and defeating Hope in two games.
The girls were at their best in the first game against Marion. They kept it close, pulling off a 25-22 win.
In addition to 13 rally points, good spiking by Leann Pankratz, good serves by Bridgette Burns and Amanda Floyd, and a tip over the net by Carlye Simons contributed to the win.
They trailed in most of the second game, coming within one point several times but losing in the end, 19-25. They seemed to have lost their concentration in the third game, losing 18-25.
The team had a good chance to defeat Little River in the first game of the match, tying the score at 7-7, 19-19, and again at 22-22, but they lost by two points, 23-25.
The second game was a reverse of the first, with Centre pulling off a 25-23 win. The Lady Cougars seemed to fall apart in the third game, however, and were handily defeated, 13-25.
Centre’s participation in the tournament ended on a winning note. They defeated Hope in the third match of the day in two games, 25-20 and 25-18.
Shields and Shelby Deines each served for a total of six points, and Pankratz completed 14 of 17 spike attempts and killed the ball six times.
Floyd served for a total of 28 points in the three matches, Tori Marler successfully set the ball 44 of 61 attempts, Bridgette Burns had five aces, and Pankratz led at the net, spiking the ball successfully 51 of 63 attempts, killing the ball 24 times. Allison Shields was leading blocker, stopping the ball seven times.
Marion claimed the championship by defeating Centre and Hope in pool play, Herington in the semifinals, and Little River in the finals. Herington defeated Berean Academy for third place.
Overall statistics
Scoring: Burns 16, Floyd 28, Pankratz 7, Simons 8, Shelby Deines 8, Shields 11, Katie Remy 2.
Team serving: 151/174.
Setting: Tori Marler 44/61, 12 for a kill; Carlye Simons 40/59, 13 for a kill.
Individual aces: Deines 3, Shields 3, Burns 5, Pankratz 4, Simons 3, Remy 1.
Spikes-kills-blocks: Pankratz 51/63-24-2, Burns 25/30-5-1, Simons 1/2-0-0, Shields 13/18-4-7, Deines 17/23-5-2.
Sept. 9 triangular
In a triangular played Sept. 9 at Wakefield, Centre defeated Solomon in three games, 25-18, 21-15, and 25-23, and lost to Wakefield in three games, 23-25, 25-23, and 16-25.
The junior varsity defeated Solomon in three games and Wakefield in two.
The varsity record stands at 2-6.