GARNETT — Consistency. Iola High’s Fillies haven’t had it all season.
And Saturday’s Anderson County High Invitational was no exception. The Fillies won the opening set in two of their four pool matches but they lost all four matches.
“Overall, we are getting better in many areas of our game. The girls saw how easy it was to put a win for a set in place when everyone did their part,” said Jodi Grover, Iola High head coach.
“The concentration is now to be consistent with this. This week will be good to concentrate on coverage and watching film.”
Iola lost to Labette County in three sets, winning the first 25-18 then losing 25-19, 25-19. Fort Scott beat Iola 25-15, 25-21 and Anderson County defeated Iola 25-20, 25-16. Independence beat the Fillies 23-25, 25-10, 25-19.
With the four losses, Iola dropped to 7-25 for the regular season. The Fillies wait for seedings and pairings in this coming Saturday’s Kansas Class 4A Substate Tournament. The substate is being hosted by Anderson County High in Garnett.
Kendra Taiclet, a senior, pounded down 23 kills, had one solo block and four assisted blocks at the net. Freshman Emery Driskel delivered 13 kills and two solo blocks.
“Kendra had a great day for hitting. Our passing enabled us to get the ball to the hitters the majority of the time,” Grover said. “Emery really came on strong. Libby (Shay) and Celeste (Ambrose) were able to stay consistent on the outside to gain some points.”
Senior Riana Dolenz racked up nine kills and three solo blocks for the Fillies. Ambrose, a senior, had five kills, three solo blocks and three assisted blocks. Shay, a junior, put down seven kills, made two solo blocks and two assisted blocks.
Freshman setter Kyra Moore was credited with 48 set assists. Ambrose and Dolenz each had three ace serves.
Keli Lee, a junior, came up with 25 defensive digs. Taiclet had 11 digs and Shay had 10 digs. Dolenz had five digs and Moore had four digs.
“The girls came out strong against Labette County. Five hitters had 17 kills in the match,” Grover said. “We let teams have multi-point runs on us and we have to work hard so this doesn’t happen.
“When teams made runs on us, it was not always off of serve receive, we were slow to the ball on defense against tips and digging.”
Fillies drop four in tourney
