Tackling obstacles is becoming old hat already in the young volleyball season for Iola High.
The Mustangs, dealing with an injury that will likely keep sophomore Zoie Hesse out of commission for a couple of weeks, had several players learning new roles on the court.
That paid off handsomely down the stretch. After a pair of losses to rivals Anderson County and Burlington, including a third-set heartbreaker to the Wildcats, Iola ended the day on a high note.
The Mustangs returned favor against Anderson County, rolling to a 25-11 and 25-23 win to secure third place in its own tournament.
“The girls are doing well right now,” head coach Amanda Holman said. “We are in every game. They are handling adversity well, some not playing in their normal spots and given bigger roles.”
Things started on a rough note as Iola dropped its first set of the day to Parsons, 25-23. Another loss likely would have ended the Mustangs’ day without advancing to bracket play at all.
But the Mustangs responded well, outscoring the Vikings in the second set. And Iola barely flinched after a cold spell midway through the tiebreaker set, trailing 18-13 at one point.
After a timeout, Iola responded with a 12-3 scoring run to win the set and match, 25-21.
Iola had little trouble dispatching Coffeyville’s Field Kindley, winning 25-12 and 25-18.
But then things went awry once again. Anderson County got the early jump with a 25-20 win in the first set and kept Iola at bay in the second, winning 25-23.
The setback relegated Iola to the second seed in the bracket round against Burlington.
Iola had defeated the Wildcats a week prior at a tournament in Humboldt, but this time things didn’t go according to plan.
Iola split its first two sets with Burlington, falling in the first, 25-21 and winning the second, 25-20.
The back-and-forth third set wound up going Burlington’s way, 26-24, relegating Iola to the third-place match.
But any disappointment at the back-to-back losses quickly dissipated.
