Iola High’s junior varsity volleyball team showed improvement throughout the day at Saturday’s IHS Junior Varsity Invitational.
The Fillies went 1-2 in round-robin play, beating Humboldt 25-18, 23-25, 16-14. Iola played Humboldt for third place and the Lady Cubs exacted revenge, winning 25-21, 25-10.
“We improved every game,” said Casey Greenwood, Iola High assistant coach. “There’s a lot of pressure on my team because it is a mixture of freshmen, sophomores and juniors. They’ve never played together before.”
Burlington claimed the tournament title, beating Girard 25-15, 25-14. Burlington went undefeated in the tournament.
Iola opened the tournament with a 25-16, 256-6 loss to Burlington. Celeste Ambrose, Alyssa Zimmerman and Katie Thompson each had a skill. Ambrose had a service ace and Keli Lee had four digs.
The Fillies dropped a 25-12, 25-20 decision to Girard. Thompson downed three kills and Ambrose had two kills and two solo blocks. Emma Sigg was 7 for 7 at the service line. Zimmerman and Ambrose each had a service ace. Lee had five digs.
Humboldt lost 25-15, 25-19 to Girard and 25-17, 25-9 to Burlington. Burlington defeated Girard 25-11, 25-18 in round-robin play.
In the back-to-back matches with Humboldt, Ambrose worked the net for four kills and four solo blocks. Thompson had two kills and one block. Paige Miller hit two kills and Zimmerman had one kill.
Thompson was 19 of 21 serving with five ace serves. Tori Snavely had four aces going 12 of 15 serving. Sigg was 11 of 13 with two aces serves and Zimmerman had one ace as she went 13 of 15 serving.
“We’ll be ready for Tuesday’s home matches,” Greenwood said.
Iola’s junior varsity hosts Independence and Fort Scott at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Iola JV takes fourth in own tournament
