Lady Cougars finish third in league tournament
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Centre High School volleyball team was seeded third in the Eisenhower League tournament held Saturday at Hope. After sweeping three games in pool play, they lost to Hope in the semifinals and defeated Sunrise in consolation play to take third place and are now 15-9 overall.
In the first match, Centre defeated sixth-seeded Wakefield in two games, 25-19 and 25-23. They were 46-of-49 in serving including three aces by Kylie Burhoop and two by Samantha Alvarez. Selena Seifert was 61-of-61 in setting, 10 for kills. Alyssa Luna completed 22-of-24 spike attempts including 13 kills.
The Lady Cougars then defeated Elyria in two games, 25-19 and 25-16. They were 45-of-49 in serving. Alvarez aced the ball three times, Jackie Klenda, two, and Teaira Turner, Seifert, and Megan Gutsch, one each. Seifert was a perfect 49-of-49 in setting, 12 for kills.
Klenda led in spiking, completing 16-of-17, including four kills.
The final match was with second-seeded Sunrise Christian. The Lady Cougars defeated them in two games, 25-12 and 25-13. They were 46-of-49 in serving, including three aces by Burhoop, and one each by Luna and Klenda. Seifert was 30-of-31 in setting, 14 leading to kills. Luna was 11-of-13 in spiking, nine resulting in kills.
Advancing to the semifinals, Centre faced fourth-seeded Hope, a team they defeated at least twice during the regular season. The team played well in the first game, winning 25-14, but lost the next two games by identical scores of 14-25, to suffer their only loss of the tournament.
They went on to defeat Sunrise in consolation play, 25-12 and 25-20. They were 46-of-49 in serving, including four aces by Klenda. Klenda also completed 16-of-17 spikes, five for kills.
"Our girls were tired when they played Sunrise, but they put out a good effort to win," said Coach Yvonne Burhoop.
The Lady Cougars completed the tournament with 15 wins and nine losses on the season. Top-seeded White City won the tournament, followed by fourth-seeded Hope in second place. The coach was pleased with her team's play and has high hopes for regional competition which begins at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Burlingame.
She noted that Hope, with a 12-10 record coming into the league tournament, lost two games out of five, to end with a 15-12 record. Centre lost only one to maintain a better record of 15-9.
"That will put us in a better position in the regional tournament," she said.
Centre Triangular
Centre hosted Hope and Wakefield Oct. 4 and added two more matches to the win column.
The Lady Cougars defeated Wakefield in two games, 25-13 and 25-11.
Jackie Klenda, who was honored on Parents' Night as the only senior on the team, put in a stellar performance.
Klenda served for 14 total points including one ice. She was successful in 13 of 14 spikes including five kills.
The team completed 46 of 49 serves.
Alyssa Luna was a perfect 9-of-9 in setting, two for a kill. She also had 11 spikes including five kills.
Selena Seifert was 42-of-43 in setting, 16 for kills.
The Lady Cougars defeated Hope in three games, 25-16, 17-27, and 25-23.
In the first game, Centre took the lead early and kept it all the way with good front line play.
The second game was the opposite of the first, with Centre behind the whole game. The Lady Cougars got within five, 16-21, at one point, but lost 17-25.
The third game was the toughest. Centre took an early lead, 11-5, only to see it evaporate as Hope tied the game at 14-all.
The Lions, however, never were able to take the lead, though the game was tied near the end at 23-23. Cheered on by enthusiastic fans, Centre scored two more points to give the home team the spectacular win.
The Lady Cougars served a perfect 25-of-25 in game three.
Teaira Turner served for a total of 10 points including three aces. Kylie Burhoop served for seven, and Seifert for six.
Seifert was 64-of-64 in setting, 19 for kills. Luna was leading spiker, completing 21-of-27, including 13 kills. Klenda was 20-of-22 with five kills and one block, and Alisha Barney was 18-of-21 with six kills and one block.
