There was good and bad on the volleyball court Thursday at Iola High School.
The good — Iola High’s Fillies celebrated their senior players, they played solid volleyball three out of four sets.
The bad — they lost both Southeast Kansas League matches in their final home appearance.
Fort Scott High’s Tigers came into the IHS gym and swept the matches. They beat the Fillies 25-6, 25-22 and downed Chanute 26-24, 25-18.
Chanute High’s Blue Comets handed the Fillies a 25-20, 25-17 loss. The Fillies finished at 2-6 in SEK play while Fort Scott and Cha-nute have 6-2 league marks.
Pittsburg wrapped up an undefeated league season and the team title Thursday. The Purple Dragons beat Parsons and Labette County. Labette County is 6-2 and Parsons ended at 4-4.
“Our passing got us in a 0-6 slump in the first set with Fort Scott and we never came back.
“We let one serve score the last nine points of the set on us,” said Jodi Grover, Fillies’ head coach.
“We have to be able to adjust and manipulate the ball no matter who is receiving.”
All that went wrong in that set, the Fillies were able to put away and played in a better frame of mind in the next three sets.
Grover said her team was making serves, passing consistently and putting things together.
Iola did not serve a point in the first set of the Fort Scott match. The second set saw Iola and Fort Scott go point-for-point until late.
The Fillies went up 20-18 on two service points by senior Riana Dolenz. Fort Scott served up three points but Iola tied it.
The score was 22-all when Fort Scott served out the set and got the match win.
Iola started in an 8-0 hole against Chanute but battled back in the set. Senior Kirstin McGuffin served up two points — both kills by Dolenz — to make it 17-11.
Kelsey Larson had three straight service points moving it to 21-16. Chanute was able to hold off the Fillies for the five-point set win.
The Fillies and Blue Comets went back-and-forth in the second set. It was either tied or no more than a two-point lead by either team.
Iola’s Kelsey Adams served up an ace, then a second point to tie it at 16-16. Chanute had two servers — three points and then four points — to pull away for a win.
“When you have a team with six hitters on the floor, you have those options to help you in tight situations. The team did a better job of changing the tempo of offense to gain kills when needed. We didn’t shy away from hitting the ball hard,” Grover said.
She said the Fillies had some net play she felt great about. The Fillies also were digging balls off blocks, winning the joust at the net against opponent’s blockers.
The Fillies are 7-21 overall. Iola, Fort Scott, Independence and Labette County are SEK teams playing in Saturday’s Anderson County High Invitational in Garnett.
“Saturday can be a very fun day for us and eventful if we can put it together and go hard for eight hours,” Grover said.
The other seniors on the Fillies’ team are Toni Taylor and Carly Mulsow, who missed most of the season after breaking bones in both arms over Labor Day weekend.
For the night, Taylor had six kills and 10 set assists plus three service points. Dolenz put down four kills, had a solo block and served two points. McGuffin came up with six digs and had two service points.
Kendra Taiclet delivered 13 kills and two solo blocks at the net. Larson had six kills, two digs and 17 set assists. Larson served up six points and Taiclet had four points.
Adams served seven points plus had one kill and two digs. Celeste Ambrose had four kills and Libby Shay was credited with two digs.
Iola’s junior varsity finished out its season at home Thursday. After winning the first set in each match, it lost to both Fort Scott and Chanute in three-set matches.
Fort Scott beat Iola 10-25, 25-16, 15-13 and Chanute defeated Iola 14-25, 25-20, 15-7.
“Our girls came out strong the first set then for some reason fell apart in the second set,” said Casey Greenwood, IHS assistant coach.
“It was a long night going three sets in each match but the girls finished strong. Not with the wins like we would’ve liked but they never gave up and played as a team.
As a team, the Fillies’ junior varsity was 82 of 89 from the service line Thursday for both matches.
Tori Snavely served up 10 aces and had 15 set assists, nine digs. Katie Thompson had five service aces, seven kills, one block and six digs. Paige Miller had three digs and one kill.
Alyssa Zimmerman had six digs and two service aces. Emma Sigg had 10 digs and two aces. Hannah Barclay put down five kills, had one block, eight digs and one ace. Essence Owens had two digs. Keli Lee had five kills, eight digs and two aces.
Fillies fall in final SEK matches
