SHUFFLE THE DECK: New rotation leads to first conference win for Fillies

By

Sports

September 13, 2017 - 12:00 AM

Sometimes all you need is a little change.
Iola volleyball head coach Emily Hampton made that realization over the weekend after her team fell 1-2 in the Iola Invitational on Saturday and decided to make a change to the rotation.
The change proved successful on Tuesday as Iola grabbed their first conference win of the season, beating Anderson County 2-1 after falling to Burlington 2-0.
While the new rotation would become beneficial eventually, the Fillies struggled to find their footing early as Burlington continued to show off their fire, taking the first set 25-15.
“In the first set against Burlington, that was the second time that they’ve gone through that rotation,” Hampton said. “So it was a lot of learning who to trust and where they should be in certain moments but they got in their groove in the second set and got comfortable and that took them through the rest of the night.”
Things improved in the second set, even though the Fillies lost, as Iola hung with Burlington point-for-point until the Wildcats got some distance, taking a five point lead.
Iola trailed by four with Burlington two points away from clinching the match when three straight Fillie points cut the Wildcat lead to two. That’s as close as they would get though as an Iola service error led the way for Burlington to close out the match 25-21.
Junior Piper Moore led the Fillies offensively with seven kills while Moore and senior Katie Bauer both had two aces.
Iola found themselves in a similar position in set one of their next match versus Anderson County as a tight match slipped away down the stretch as the Fillies fell 25-21.
“They want it so bad that they force too many things,” Hampton said. “They just needed to take a second to breathe and play their game the way they know they can and we did well with that. We just needed to take those moments.”
In set two things began to click. This time, it was Fillies who  found themselves making some separation down the stretch. Match point saw Moore put away a an absolute bomb, giving them the 25-22 win and forcing a third set.
That’s when it all broke loose for the Fillies.
Hampton huddled her team around her and asked how bad they really wanted to win this match. Apparently, it was a lot.
Both teams tied it up a 1-1 and then Iola went on a tear, scoring 9 in-a-row to take a 10-1 lead.
“That was awesome,” Hampton said. “It was exactly the push that they needed and then they knew they could take it from there. They just kept the lead. It was a good way to start.”
From there, Anderson County got as close as seven points as the Fillies won their first conference match of the season 25-15.
Moore was the kill leader again with 12 while Bauer followed behind with 8. Senior Colbi Riley had four aces in that third set alone, as she held serve during Iola’s early burst.
But while the offense executed, it was the defense that caught Hampton’s eye as senior Chloe Gardner had 8 digs total in the two matches and senior Karly McGuffin and junior Shaylee Sutterby led the team in blocks with two in the Anderson County match.
“Chloe was really pushing tonight,” Hampton said. “And Karly did some really good things blocking. They’ve each shown in little spots together and I think that’s what works for this team. We don’t have a star but we have a camaraderie between them that together they can push to where they need to go.”
The Fillies will have a week off before heading to Osawatomie on Tuesday to take on the Lady Trojans and Santa Fe Trail.

Related
October 23, 2017
October 11, 2017
September 15, 2015
September 15, 2014