How Iola High’s Fillies finished, even in a loss, was a good sign for their head coach Jodi Grover.
The Fillies lost two non-league matches at home Tuesday. Grover said she saw signs of confidence being restored in the Fillies’ players.
“They were having fun that last set against Girard. I told them to go out and have fun playing the game. They battled back into the set and gained some confidence in themselves,” Grover said.
Nevada, Mo., High’s Tigers beat the Fillies 25-14, 25-20. Girard High’s Lady Trojans fought back against the Tigers after dropping the first set to win 15-25, 25-21, 25-23.
Then the Fillies were back on the court against the Lady Trojans. It wasn’t their hitting that let the Fillies down during the two matches. It was serving and passing.
“We were hitting the ball hard all night. We have six hitters on the court and we could set to any one of them and we did,” Grover said
“You are right, we didn’t serve very well and didn’t put together serving runs. Our opponents did. Our passing percentage has gone down again.”
But after losing the first set to Girard 25-12, the Fillies came out of a slump down 14-6 in the second set.
“The way they played here at the end is what we want. That intensity and there is a fun factor in it,” Grover said. “I told them that it was fine to celebrate the points we win but we also need to celebrate the ones we lose, meaning we need to pat teammates on the back and say ‘we’ll get the next one.’”
Iola trailed 17-9 when Kelsey Adams served two straight points. Then it was back and forth between the teams, one point at a time.
Toni Taylor served up three consecutive points to pull the Fillies to within three points, 19-16. A kill by Kelsey Larson made it 22-19 and Iola had the serve.
Riana Dolenz, who had eight service points on the night, served up a point. But as it had been all night, the Fillies were about to protect the serve.
Girard scored a defensive point to go up 23-20 then served the next two points to win, 25-20.
The Fillies were close with Nevada in the first set but only served for four points. Iola pushed out to a 15-10 lead in the second set on a four-point service run by Dolenz.
Two consecutive servers for the Tigers had four points and five points to gain a 21-18 lead. Iola didn’t respond.
Girard opened the first set against Iola on a six-point run. A five-point serving stint stretched the Lady Trojans’ lead to 17-5.
“We needed a little confidence boost and I believe we got it at the end tonight. We have to build on it going into Thursday’s matches,” Grover said.
The Fillies host two of the top four teams in the Southeast Kansas League, Chanute (23-10) and Fort Scott (18-11).
Iola (7-19) is 2-4 in SEK play while Chanute is tied with Labette County at 5-1 in second place. Fort Scott is 4-2 as is Parsons. Pittsburg is atop the league at 6-0.
In Tuesday’s matches, Adams had six service points behind Dolenz’s eight. Taylor served for four points while Kiristen McGuffin and Kendra Taiclet each had three service points. Larson had two points served.
Taiclet led the Iola attack at the net with eight kills and five solo blocks. Larson had nine kills and one block and Taylor had five kills.
Dolenz had three kills and two blocks. Adams and Celeste Ambrose each had two kills.
Taylor was credited with 16 set assists and Larson had nine assists. Larson came up with five digs while McGuffin and Taiclet each had four digs. Dolenz had two digs.
Fillies gain confidence in doubleheader loss
