BURLINGTON — The Iola Fillies’ volleyball team was unable to add to their season win total on Tuesday night in Burlington when they faced Santa Fe Trail and Anderson County.
“I can’t complain about the way they played,” Iola coach Jeff Fehr said. “They try and that is all we can ask for. We can’t go out and play for them and hindsight is always 20-20.”
The Fillies have made major strides from a season ago when they won just four matches. They more than doubled that total this season as they enter sub-state play with a 9-20 record while facing what will almost certainly end up being the toughest schedule in Kansas’ Class 4A.
“I would stack our league up against anybody’s,” Fehr said.
That schedule only grew in difficulty on Tuesday when they faced the state’s No. 5-ranked team in their opening match against Santa Fe Trail.
The Chargers, who will soon be ranked higher than their current top-five spot after beating No. 2 Burlington later in the night, were able to make quick work of the over-matched Fillies by winning in straight sets.
The Fillies hung with the Chargers in the very early going and were tied at three before the Chargers went on a huge run.
A 17-3 run made the score 20-6 and the Chargers took a 25-9 first set victory.
The second set was much more promising early on.
A five-point run on serve from junior Katie Bauer, highlighted by back-to-back aces had the Fillies’ within one of the Chargers at 13-12, but again the Iola offense went cold.
Santa Fe Trail went on a eight-point surge and ended the match on a 12-1 run to win the second set, 25-13.
Sophomore Piper Moore led the team with three kills in the match and senior Sydney Wade had three digs to go with three assists.
Iola’s next match was against Anderson County and they were able to give the Bulldogs a pair of tough sets, but Anderson County was able to escape with a straight-set victory.
The Fillies hung within five points of the Bulldogs for the early part of the match, but they seemed like they would be unable to get any closer than that, until Moore got to the service line with her team trailing 18-13.
Moore and the Fillies were able to tie the game at 18 behind three aces from Moore and a kill from Wade.
“Piper served how we are going to need Piper to serve,” Fehr said. “Piper has learned a lot this year. Next year, she is going to be counted on to be one of our leaders. We will have a lot of good players coming back next year.”
