BURLINGTON — The IHS volleyball team went 2-3 at the Burlington Invitational on Saturday.
The Mustangs began and ended their day with victories over Waverly while falling to Fredonia, Baxter Springs and Lyndon.
Against Waverly, Iola won in two sets, 25-14 and 25-16. Jackie Fager led the Mustangs with seven kills while Reese Curry registered 11 digs and two aces from the serving line.
Fredonia was able to take care of Iola in the second match when they won in three sets, 21-25, 27-25 and 19-25. Mustang Rio Lohman notched 10 kills while Curry and Fager ripped eight kills apiece.
Aysha Houk also fought hard in the Fredonia matchup, knocking three aces while Kaysin Crusinbery made 21 assists and 11 digs.
The Mustangs dropped their second loss against Baxter Spring in three sets, 9-25, 25-23 and 15-25. Similar to the first set, Iola fought hard to even things up in the middle set but couldn’t sustain the momentum and fell in the third set by 10 points.
“Overall, it was a disappointing day for Mustang volleyball,” said Iola head coach Amanda Holman. “We had good moments, but we need to learn to put together good games.”
Lohman led offensively with eight kills and also made 3.5 blocks defensively. Houk went a perfect 10-for-10 on digs to lead the defense while Curry came up with four aces from the serving line.
Iola fell for the third time against Lyndon when they were swept in two sets, 20-25 and 16-25.
“Our biggest hurdle as a team is our minds. We have to become more mentally tough if we want to see different results,” Holman said.
Dallyn McGraw led the team with nine kills, followed by Fager’s three kills and Alana Mader’s two kills.
In the final match, Iola took down Waverly for the second time with set scores of 25-15 and 25-16.
Lohman helped out offensively with six kills while Crusinbery made 14 assists. Elza Clift, Curry and Crusinbery each ripped four digs in the second victory.
The Mustangs travel to Anderson County on Tuesday.
