GIRARD — Consistency is still the sticking point for Iola High’s volleyball team. With just a few matches left in the regular season, the Fillies are showing flashes of their capabilities.
“I saw some great things out of the girls — movements on the court, fundamentally looking better and putting offense together,” said Jodi Grover, Iola High head coach. “Then two points later we are letting the other team make a run.”
The Fillies battled host Girard High’s Trojans in a Tuesday night non-league triangular but lost, 25-17, 25-14. Iola lost to a Nevada, Mo., High team “with strong hitters,” 25-9, 25-13.
Iola dropped to 7-19 on the season. The Fillies take a 1-5 mark into Thursday’s final Southeast Kansas League matches at Fort Scott. They take on Fort Scott and Chanute, both have 5-1 league marks.
About an hour before leaving Tuesday, the Fillies found out senior Celeste Ambrose was out for a week with strep throat. Grover said she was proud of how her players kept their composure and also of Katie Thompson jumping in to take the right side hitter’s spot. Thompson had not practiced with the varsity for two weeks.
“Against Girard , we came out playing pretty well. The points were close up to 16 in the first set then one of their servers had a run,” Grover said. “We stayed right with them again in the second set but couldn’t pick up steam.”
Nevada came at Iola with power and Grover said the Fillies were unable to slow thing down with blocks. Nevada also had a couple big service runs.
“We regressed back to the beginning of the season when we had moments of great passing without a set, great passing, great set and the hitter would have an error,” Grover said. “We have to clean up these errors before our last tournament and substate to be competitive.”
Kendra Taiclet provided six kills and two solo blocks along with an assisted block at the net for the Fillies. Riana Dolenz had three kills and Thompson made three kills and an assisted block. Emery Driskel downed two kills and Libby Shay had one kill.
Kyra Moore was credited with 13 set assists. Keli Lee came up with six digs while Taiclet and Shay had five digs. Dolenz had three digs, Moore had two digs and Driskel had one dig.
“Kendra was hitting the ball well. Kyra had a great night setting. “I see the growth of these individuals working together on the floor. Emma Sigg stepped back up to play a key role in back row, helping us defend the ball,” Grover said.
“I had Emma playing JV for awhile now to keep her hitting and playing all the way around. I’m thankful we were all in the same location (Tuesday night) to allow us to use Emma and Katie.”
Iola’s junior varsity didn’t fare any better. The Fillies lost 25-21, 25-21 to Girard and 25-7, 25-13 to Nevada.
In the Girard match, Alyssa Zimmerman put down five kills while Hannah Endicott had three kills and Mackenzie Weseloh and Chanel Coyne each had two kills. Coyne had a solo block. Allie Cleaver and Zimmerman each had two ace serves and Paige Miller had one ace serve. Weseloh had eight set assists.
Against Nevada, Endicott served four aces and Weseloh had three assists. Coyne had two kills and two solo blocks. Zimmerman and Miller each had a kill. Allie Cleaver and Halie Cleaver each had two digs.
