UNIONTOWN — Uniontown High’s Eagles gave their fans what they wanted — the 2010 Uniontown Invitational championship — on Saturday afternoon. And in doing so they exacted some revenge for one of their two losses of the volleyball season.
The Eagles faced Northeast High’s Lady Vikings of Arma in the championship match in the West Bourbon Elementary School gym. Just over three weeks before, the Lady Vikings handed the Eagles their first loss of the season in that very gym.
That match went three sets. Not Saturday as the Eagles took care of business, winning the title match 25-19, 25-23.
“We had a great day of volleyball. It is always nice to be at home in front of our crowd and the girls played great,” said Jackie Hall, Eagles’ head coach. “The girls really wanted another opportunity against Northeast.
“Both teams played well and it was a great match and I’m so proud of the way the girls worked to stay in the match and execute our game play.”
Uniontown went undefeated in the tournament, pushing its mark to 28-2. The Eagles are ranked fifth in Class 3A by the Kansas Volleyball Association. There could be another Eagle-Lady Viking match as Uniontown is the Class 3A substate, hosted by Northeast on Oct. 23.
Southern Coffey County High’s Lady Titans finished fourth in the tournament. Riverton defeated the Lady Titans 25-23, 14-25, 25-10 in the third-place match.
The Lady Titans came out of the same pool as Northeast going 3-1. Also in the pool was Marmaton Valley High’s Wildcats who went 0-4. Yates Center High’s Wildcats, the only team to take Uniontown to three sets, was 1-3 in pool play and Crest High’s Lady Lancers were 0-4.
Uniontown got past Northeast with Taylor Shook serving up 11 points. Jacy Ermel and Ashley Nietfield only failed on three of a combined 39 attacks at the net with each hammering down eight kills.
Hayden Rathbun had three kills and Shook was credited with 20 set assists. Tiffany Poyner came up with 32 digs.
“Our first three matches of the day were awesome. We played probably the best volleyball I had seen from us as a team this season, which is exciting as we are heading into the later part of our season,” Hall said. “We struggled in the Yates Center match but give Yates Center credit, they played us well, blocking our hitters and taking us out of our system.”
In pool play, Uniontown beat Crest 25-8, 25-9. Shook served 17 consecutive as she had 24 service points plus had 15 set assists. Jessie Camac had seven kills, Ermel had five kills and Rathbun had four kills. Poyner and Jessica Murrow had six digs apiece.
Uniontown defeated Frontenac 25-9, 25-15. Harrison served 14 points, all in a row. Ermel and Rathbun each had five kills. Shook put up 15 assists and Poyner had 12 digs.
Uniontown downed Riverton 25-12, 25-17. Harrison had 10 service points. Ermel delivered eight kills and Shook had 12 set assists. Poyner came up with nine digs.
Uniontown beat Yates Center 25-12, 17-25, 25-15. Camac served for 14 points and Shook had 12 points from the service line. Shook put up 12 assists and Lauren Rockhold had 10 assists. Poyner was credited with 31 digs. Ermel and Rathbun each had seven kills.
FOR SOUTHERN Coffey County, the Lady Titans beat Metro Academy 25-10, 13-25, 25-19 then lost to Northeast 25-13, 13-25, 26-24. They bounced back to defeat Pleasanton 25-16, 25-19 and Marmaton Valley 28-26, 25-23.
“We were definitely hot and cold early on. We looked good in the first and third set against Metro, but not good at all in the second. Then we do the same thing against Northeast in set one and two,” said Korey Lankton, SCCH head coach.
Lankton said the Lady Titans were in a position to win the third set, leading 21-17 and then 24-21. He said their serve receive got a little stiff and they weren’t aggressive with the lead.
“Marmaton Valley outplayed us and led by about seven points. We showed some toughness to get the win but it was disappointing to not meet our potential,” Lankton said. “Our concentration levels continue to be inconsistent. We have the ability to escape this cage we seem to be in.”
For the tournament, Keasha Parks served 44 of 45 and had 62 set assists for the Lady Titans and Brooke Scheele had 45 set assists. Leading the net attack for Southern Coffey County were Sam Jacob with 41 kills, Ashton Isch with 36, Kristin Stephens with 32 kills and Sarah Webb with 20 kills.
Southern Coffey County is 18-11 overall.
MARMATON VALLEY opened pool play with a 25-19, 25-22 loss to Pleasanton then lost to Kansas City Metro Academy 25-18, 22-25, 25-15. The Wildcats lost to Southern Coffey County 28-26, 25-23 and dropped a 25-10, 25-15 decision to Northeast-Arma.
“The girls played well in our second and third matches of the day but we couldn’t get anything going in our first and last matches,” said Lindsay Ermel, Marmaton Valley head coach.
Ermel said against Metro, the Wildcats got a rhythm going and that carried over in the Southern Coffey County match.
“We came up short in both matches but the girls played hard. In our last match, you could tell the girls were tired,” Ermel said. “We hope to recover and go to Northeast-Arma Tuesday for a league match.”
On the day for the Wildcats, Cheyanne Miller had 19 kills and 16 digs and Maggie Meiwes put down 15 kills plus had five ace serves. Kayla McNutt had nine kills and Morgan Owens had four kills.
Kailey Boyd had eight service aces plus came up with 37 digs. Kacie Shadden had 34 digs. Molly McEwan was credited with 36 set assists and Lydia Lance had 18 assists. Kaitlin Ensminger had three service aces and seven kills.
Marmaton Valley is 8-20 overall.
The Register did not receive reports from Crest or Yates Center. Match scores for the two in the tournament were: Uniontown over Crest 25-8, 25-9; Yates Center over Crest 21-25, 25-17, 25-20; Riverton over Yates Center 25-16, 25-18; Frontenac over Crest 25-11, 25-17; Frontenac over Yates Center 25-13, 29-27; Riverton over Crest 25-16, 25-15; Uniontown over Yates Center 25-12, 17-25, 25-15.
