UNIONTOWN — Marmaton Valley and Crest’s volleyball teams each spent their Saturday playing in the Uniontown Invitational Tournament and each team came away from the matches with plenty of positives and negatives to build on and try to improve.
Both teams began the day with a loss. Crest fell, 25-21 and 25-14, to Northeast Arma. Marmaton Valley fell in three sets to Riverton.
The Wildcats won the first set 25-15 over Riverton, but they lost the second and third with identical 25-23 scores. Seniors Misty Storrer and Kyla Drake led the team with 11 and 10 kills respectively in the match.
The Wildcats were able to respond from the disappointment of the Riverton match with a dominant 25-9, 25-4 victory over Galena. Shayla Brooks paced Marmaton Valley offensively with six kills.
While Marmaton Valley appeared to be finding its footing, the Lancers were struggling to get theirs. The Lancers lost in straight sets 25-6, 25-10 to Uniontown.
“We completely fell apart,” Crest coach Abigail Hermreck said. “We hard no spark to even start a fire.”
The Lancers closed the tournament on a hot streak though and won their next two contests over Southern Coffey County and Yates Center.
They topped the Titans in three sets, 18-25, 25-16 and 25-23 behind strong serving performances from seniors Miranda Golden and Karlee Hammand, as well as sophomore Regan Godderz. Golden led the team with 19 kills.
Golden was even more dominant against Yates Center with 29 kills in the team’s 25-19 and 25-14 set victories.
“I was proud of all the girls for digging in and not giving up,” Hermreck said. “It is hard to come back from an ugly loss and play hard as a team. Every single player showed mental toughness and played fearlessly for each other.”
The Marmaton Valley squad wasn’t able to finish on the same high note that its rival was able to however..
The Wildcats lost 25-18 and 25-20 to Olathe Metro and fell 25-12 and 25-14 to Central Heights to end their day with a 1-3 record.
WILDCAT J.V.
The Marmaton Valley junior varsity won the Chanute Tournament on Saturday by defeating several of the area’s larger freshmen squads.
They lost to both Chanute and Anderson County, before defeating Iola to earn a rematch with Anderson County.
They won that game for the right to face Chanute again for the title and they topped the Blue Comets 25-23 and 25-15.
“I am very proud of what each girl contributed out on the court today,” Marmaton Valley coach Jamie Stodgell said. “The girls pulled together to win hard-fought games. Winning this championship shows the potential these girls have.”
Rachel Shaffer led the team with 25 kills in the tournament while Emily Smart and Kari Shadden each had ten.
