Fillies falter at Pittsburg

PITTSBURG — Avoiding a shutout on the day’s action, Iola High’s Fillies won the seventh-place match Saturday.
The Fillies notched a win over Baxter Springs (the scores were not available) to take seventh at the Pittsburg High Invitational. Paola High’s Panthers defeated Pittsburg 25-8, 25-19 in the championship match. Nevada, Mo., High was third followed by Fort Scott, Girard and Labette County.
“If I were asked to compare the play for Saturday to other outings, I definitely feel we were around a 6 out of 10 for the day,” said Jodi Grover, Iola High head coach. “Our communication, energy level and enthusiasm was missing until the last match.
“The girls have played at a much higher level in the past and they know they are capable. It just didn’t happen.”
Fort Scott beat Iola 25-18, 25-10 followed by Iola dropping a 25-16, 25-21 decision to Labette County. Nevada decked Iola 25-20, 25-20. Then the Fillies faced Labette County again, losing 25-22, 25-14.
Grover said during the second set with Fort Scott, three servers in a row destroyed the Fillies’ serve receivers — the first four straight points, the second with five and the third with six. She said as Iola made adjustments, Fort Scott kept finding weaknesses.
“Throughout the day, this was the theme. We would start behind and would make a good run for points. When we would catch up, we couldn’t maintain the lead. It takes a lot of you if you are always coming from four to seven points behind,” Grover said.
Iola went into the tournament without one of its two setters. Tori Snavely dislocated her shoulder Wednesday in practice, giving the Fillies two days to work through if they were would continue to run a 6-2 offense or a 5-1 offense.
“We started the day with Kyra Moore as the sole setter letting Libby (Shay) concentrate on hitting and playing back row,” Grover said. “The girls were comfortable with the 5-1 but I feel we are still working on building our setters.”
Grover said she went back to using Moore and Shay as setters which seemed to get the Fillies back into a flow better.
On the day, Moore had 14 set assists and Shay had six set assists. Keli Lee came up with 10 digs as Iola’s libero. Shay had five digs as did Celeste Ambrose.
At the net, Kendra Taiclet led the attack with 15 kills and 11 solo blocks. Taiclet also had five assisted blocks. Riana Dolenz made five solo blocks and had one assisted block and downed eight kills. Ambrose had two kills and three assisted blocks.
Kelsey Adams had one kill and one solo block and Emery Driskel downed two kills and had a solo block. Shay hit two kills. Taiclet had two ace serves and Adams served up an ace.
Adams made eight digs and Taiclet had seven digs. Driskel had two digs while Emma Sigg and Moore each had a dig.
“We are still missing consistent outside hitters. Celeste, Emery and Kelsey are competing for the left side position. We will be working on getting the ball outside on the set to them to help them be consistent,” Grover said.
“This week could be a good week for us to pull out wins. Our hope is to keep everyone healthy and ready to take charge of a match.”
The Fillies are 4-12 overall. They travel to Yates Center Tuesday for non-league matches with Fredonia and Yates Center.
Southeast Kansas League play begins Thursday for the Fillies. Iola hosts its only SEK matches and last home matches of the season as Independence and Pittsburg come into the IHS gym.