It was a bittersweet night for Iola High School’s volleyball team.
The girls dropped their matches to Prairie View and Wellsville on Tuesday.
The upside was senior night, when the senior class girls — Aysha Houk, Dallyn McGraw and Jadyn Kaufman — were recognized for their contributions to the team.
“It was nice to recognize our seniors and the juniors did a great job of honoring them,” said Iola head coach Amanda Holman. “The seniors do a great job of staying positive and keeping their heads up.”
The Mustangs began strong against Prairie View, winning the first game, 25-22, but lost their direction, losing 24-26 and 13-25 in the next two.
Iola was led offensively by Reese Curry’s 13 kills and Jackie Fager’s six kills. Rio Lohman and Kaufman knocked three kills apiece. Houk led with three ace serves, followed by Kaysin Crusinbery and Alana Mader’s two aces apiece.
Elza Clift was perfect from the serving line while Houk, Mader and Crusinbery each went 90% from the serving line.
“The second set we lost our urgency to get the win unlike our first set. It slipped away when we shouldn’t have let it. The third set we played their game and they are better at their game than we are,” said Holman. “I don’t think we played bad, but we didn’t play with that chip on our shoulder to win.”
Defensively, Lohman led with three total blocks and two solo blocks while Mader was good for two blocks and one solo block. Houk led with 21 digs, followed by Crusinery’s 17 digs and Clift and Curry’s 14 digs apiece. McGraw also knocked 10 digs in the loss.
Iola then fought again but came up short in three sets to Wellsville, 22-25, 25-23 and 15-25.
Curry led on the attack with seven kills, followed by Lohman’s six kills and Mader and Fager’s three kills apiece. Mader, Fager and Curry also each registered ace serves in the setback.
“Last night Reese had a great night which is what we were looking for all season. Rio has been one of our most consistent players throughout the season. It’s a blessing we can rely on her. Kaysin does a great job of working her tail off, she’s been doing a great job of becoming more consistent in her setting,” Holman said.
Clift was a perfect 100% from the serving line while Crusinbery notched an 85.7% success rate from the serving line. Mader and Fager also each went 84.6% from the line.
Lohman made three total blocks and three solo blocks while Mader, Fager and Curry each made two blocks defensively. Houk led with a monstrous 30 digs, Crusinbery had 23 digs and Curry had 18 digs. Clift was also in double figures in digs with 10.
Iola will play at Anderson County next Tuesday.
