Iola Middle School’s volleyball teams played at home for the first time this season. The lone win against visiting Royster Middle School of Chanute came in the eighth-grade B-team match.
Iola’s eighth-grade B-team won a close 25-22, 25-21 decision. Courtney Richey served up 11 aces for Iola. Reghan Sigg and Abigail Taylor each had three service aces in the match for the Ponies.
Also from the service line, Joie Whitney had two aces. Bobbi Sinclair, Valaree Burtnett and Emily McKarnin each had a service ace.
“The B-team girls played one of their best games to get a big win,” said Terri Carlin, IMS eighth-grade coach. “Courtney Richey led the way with a super serving night. She also had one kill at the net. Valaree had some great plays at the net.”
For the eighth-grade A-team, a slow start hampered the Ponies. Royster won 25-13, 27-25. Carlin said the Ponies just weren’t ready for the ball coming at them in the first set.
“Chanute had some tough serves and attacks and we weren’t picking up the ball soon enough to make a good play,” Carlin said. “In the second set we only missed one serve. We did a much better job passing the ball to our setters.”
Taylor Sell had five kills and one ace serve for Iola. Ashlie Shields had three kills and three set assists plus an ace serve. Elise Wolf had three assists and one ace.
McKayli Cleaver had three kills while Mikaela Platt and Taylor Heslop each had a kill. Abigail Taylor served two aces.
“Emily McKarnin made some tremendous diving passes on some hard driven Chanute serves and spikes,” Carlin said. “Abigail came off the bench and served 10 serves with no misses.”
Iola’s seventh-grade A-team lost 25-20, 25-11. Alexis Heslop had two ace serves while Toni Macha and Sydney Wade each had one ace serve. Heslop served at an 86 percent clip while Macha was at 78 percent and Riley Murry at 75 percent.
Keirstan Peterson came off the bench and served well, according to Stacy Sprague, IMS seventh-grade coach. Passing was better as Rylee Knavel was at 79 percent in her first start of the season.
In the B-team match, Royster won 25-7, 25-19. Alyssa Lewis was 3-for-3 at the service line for Iola. Jayden Sigg served at 56 percent. Peterson was 8-of-9 serving for six points.
Pony volleyball teams play at home
