Iola High’s Fillies dropped only one game in their run through pool play at Saturday’s Iola JV Invitational. That put them in the championship match.
Pool play featured two games per match and the Iola junior varsity went 7-1. The Fillies faced Burlington High’s Wildcats (7-1) for the tournament title in a best-of-three match.
The Fillies won 25-21, 15-25, 15-11.
“The girls really came together as a whole. Teamwork and determination were keys to the girls’ success in the first matches of the season,” said Casey Greenwood, IHS assistant coach.
“What a wonderful feeling this was for them to experience victory on their home court.”
Iola opened the tournament with a 25-18, 25-21 win over Humboldt High’s Lady Cubs. The Fillies split with Prairie View, winning 25-12 and losing 25-19.
The Fillies downed Girard 25-7, 25-22 and got past Central Heights 25-21, 25-19.
Humboldt was 2-6 in on the day but no individual statistics were available. Wellsville was the other team in the tournament.
Katie Thompson pounded down six kills in the championship match for the Fillies and had two service aces. Chanel Coyne had three kills and a solo block at the net. Hanna Endicott delivered two kills and a block at the net plus had one service ace.
Emma Piazza was credited with seven set assists and Mackenzie Weseloh had four assists. Paige Miller and Breanna Stout had a kill apiece.
Iola had steady serving and passing throughout the tournament. Against Burlington, Weseloh had three ace serves, Alyssa Zimmerman had two aces and Emma Sigg had one ace.
“Halie Cleaver, Alyssa, Emma Sigg and Hanna all played well on the back row for us,” Greenwood said. “We got down a couple of times after being ahead in games so that is something to improve on but they never gave up and it paid off. I saw really great things from all 13 players.”
In the four pool matches, Thompson racked up 22 kills for Iola while Endicott had 14 kills and Coyne downed 11 kills. Sigg had four kills followed by Stout with three, Piazza, Stout, Miller and Karlie Lower each with one kill.
Piazza had 31 set assists and Weseloh had 16 assists. Thompson, Coyne, Piazza, Sigg and Weseloh each had one solo block.
From the service line, the Fillies missed very few service opportunities in the tournament. Sigg chalked up 11 service aces in pool play while Thompson and Weseloh each had seven aces. Endicott had six ace serves and Piazza had two aces.
The Iola junior varsity plays at Independence Tuesday.
Fillies win Iola JV Invitational
