PLEASANTON — Uniontown High’s Eagles battled Jayhawk-Linn High’s Jayhawks in the championship match of the Three Rivers League Preseason Tournament Saturday.
It was defending tournament champion — the Eagles — against the returned Jayhawks. Jayhawk-Linn had bolted the TRL for the Pioneer League and now is back in the TRL fold this year for every sport by football, which comes back in next year.
The Eagles won the first set but lost the title match to the Jayhawks 12-25, 25-17, 25-23. Marmaton Valley High’s Wildcats came out of the other pool at 3-1 with the only loss to Jayhawk-Linn. The Wildcats lost the third-place match 25-21, 25-23 against Oswego.
Crest High’s Lady Lancers went 0-5 on the day losing to Northeast-Arma 25-21, 25-21 in the medal round.
“I’m pleased with what I saw throughout the day. Our girls played well but just came up short in the Jayhawk-Linn match,” said Jackie Hall, Uniontown head coach. “It was great play on both sides of the net. We struggled with our passing , which caused us some problems in attacking at the net.”
Hope Jurgensen served up 11 points, including three aces, for the Eagles in the title match. Ashley Nietfeld put down eight kills and had three solo blocks. Hayden Rathbun had six kills and two solo blocks. Tayler Shook was credited with 10 set assists and Lauren Rockhold had eight assists.
Pool Play Matches
Uniontown over Pleasanton 25-11, 25-10. Jessica Murrow served 10 points and had two ace serves. Rathbun had seven kill, Nietfeld had four kills and two solo blocks and Hannah Travis had four kills. Shook had 10 set assists.
Uniontown over Oswego 25-18, 25-18. Rockhold served for eight points plus had eight set assists as did Shook. Rathbun had five kills and four solo blocks. Nietfeld had three kills and one solo block while Travis had one kill and three solo blocks.
Uniontown over Chetopa 25-6, 25-6. Jurgensen and Travis each served up nine points. Nietfeld had five kills and Rathbun had three kills. Rockhold was credited with seven set assists. Shook and Jurgensen each had four service aces.
Uniontown over Crest 25-11, 25 16. Shook had 11 service points, five service aces and seven set assists. Nietfeld and Rathbun had four kills each, Travis had two kills and Jurgensen had one kill and three solo blocks.
Crest’s Lady Lancers lost 25-16, 25-20 to Pleasanton then Oswego beat them 25-16, 23-25, 25-18, Chetopa defeated Crest 25-16, 17-25, 25-16 and lost to Uniontown.
For the tournament, Crest was led by Brytton Strickler with 12 kills and one block at the net and six digs. Tessa Louk and Madison Kellar had nine kills each and Louk had four blocks. Katrina Strickler had seven kills and one block and Shayla Stephens had six kills. Emily Frank had two kills and two blocks.
Katrina Strickler was credited with 20 set assists. Chelsey Brooks had 10 digs defensively for the Lady Lancers and Louk had five digs. Erica Holman had four digs and Kellar had three digs. Louk, K. Strickler, Stephens, B. Strickler and Kellar each had four ace serves and Brooks had two aces.
Marmaton Valley opened the tournament against Jayhawk-Linn losing 25-17, 25-9. The Wildcats calmed down and defeated St. Paul 25-20, 25-18 then beat Altoona-Midway 25-18, 25-16.
“The final pool play match was a milestone for us. Beating the defending league champions was an amazing feeling the girls told me,” said Lindsay Ermel, Wildcat head coach. Marmaton Valley beat Northeast-Arma 25-13, 25-22 taking second in their pool.
That put the Wildcats in the third-place match against Oswego.
“We had a lot of nerves and jitters that first match and it was a good warm-up for us. The girls did a great job coming off the loss and beating St. Paul,” Ermel said. “We played as a team and never just threw in the towel on any set. I could not have asked for anything better to open the season.”
