Tuesday evening may have been a fitting microcosm of Iola High’s young volleyball season.
When the Mustangs were good, they were very good, battering visiting Burlington with an array of pin-point net attacks, crisp serving and impeccable ball control.
Iola roared past Burlington in straight sets, 25-11 and 25-18, just three short days after Burlington went undefeated in winning Iola’s home tournament.
And a strong start against another rival in Anderson County had the Mustang faithful ready to celebrate.
But lulls in the first and third sets against the Bulldogs dampened that enthusiasm.
Anderson County took control down the stretch in the first set, winning 25-21. Iola rebounded with authority in the second, a 25-17 victory, to set up the third-set tiebreaker.
There, the Bulldogs opened with a 5-1 run and never looked back, claiming the set and match, 25-16.
The split puts Iola at 6-5 on the season.
“The girls feel like they let the Anderson County match get away,” Iola head coach Amanda Holman said. “They got on a couple of good serving runs, and we couldn’t overcome that.”
The opening match was a different story. Iola dominated at the net, either blocking or hammering down pretty much anything Burlington hit over the net.
With the first set knotted at 9-9, Alana Mader had a block and kill as part of an 6-point Mustang run, including back-to-back service aces from Reese Curry.
Then, after the Wildcats finally stopped the streak, the Mustangs’ Elza Clift served up five more straight points to take a commanding 22-10 lead.
A similar pattern followed in the second set, with Curry and Clift combining with back-to-back four-point service runs.
Curry then started out the Anderson County match like gangbusters, delivering consecutive kills to push Iola head 10-6. Freshman Addi Wacker’ ace followed to put Iola up by five.
That’s where the fun ended. Iola led 13-8 before Anderson County responded with an 8-1 run to take the lead for good.
