East Mills places third at Corner tournament
East Mills bounced back from a semifinal loss to sweep Fremont-Mills 25-15, 25-16, 26-24 for third place at the Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament Thursday in Tabor.
The Wolverines (20-8 overall, 5-1 in the conference) played a complete match against the Knights (16-15 overall, 3-3 in the conference), hitting .313 as a team with 37 kills and digging up 51 balls on defense with 11 blocks.
“I’m Very proud of the girls for bouncing back after the tough loss on Tuesday with Essex,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank. “We served 74-for-74 as a team and our hitting errors were kept to a minimum for the first two sets. We struggled a bit with some hitting and passing errors in the third set, but we re-grouped, stayed focused, and finished."
The win is the Wolverine’s 20th of the season, breaking the school record for most wins.
Alex Knop led the Wolverines with 15 kills, Shellby Moore added nine and Gracee Meyer eight. Moore also added 10 digs and Meyer added four blocks.
Rachel Schafer and Dezirae Drake both finished with 17 assists.
Sophie Phillips paced the Knights with 13 kills and Rachel Wietzki had 27 set assists.
Following the consolation match, Sidney (24-3) defeated Essex 25-9, 25-12, 25-10 to win it’s third straight Corner Conference title.
Sidney 25-25-25
Fremont-Mills
A relentless Sidney attack had 43 kills as the Cowgirls recorded their third win of the season over Fremont-Mills in last Tuesday’s Corner Conference Volleyball semifinals last Tuesday.
The Cowgirls put the Knights away 25-9, 25-14, 25-14.
Bailey Hauschild and Sophie Phillips led the Knights with six kills apiece.
Camryn McClintock led the Sidney attack with 18 kills.
Essex 15-27-25-25
East Mills 25-25-23-21
Essex got by East Mills for the second time this season with a second round upset of the No. 2 seeded Wolverines at the Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament last Tuesday.
The Trojans (15-4 overall, 4-1 in the conference) battled back following a 15-25 opening set loss to win the final three sets 27-25, 25-3, 25-21.
“This match came down to errors, timing of errors, and which team was the most aggressive on offense and defense,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank. “We came out really strong in the first set and then dug ourselves a huge hole in the second set. We missed four serves and had six hitting errors in that set alone. However, we battled our way back to tie it up 25-25 and just didn’t finish.”
In the third and fourth sets, both teams battled back and forth with rallies but late in the fourth and final set Essex grabbed the momentum and finished.
“I’m very proud, as always, of our effort and teamwork,” Blank said. “We need to improve our defense, minimize our errors, and not let one mistake turn into three or four more before we move on.”
Alex Knop pounded down 23 kills to lead East Mills. The sophomore added 18 digs.
Shellby Moore put down 11 kills.
Dezirae Drake recorded 21 sets assists and Rachel Schafer 25.
Fremont-Mills 26-25-25
Stanton 24-22-14
Fremont-Mills edged Stanton in a pair of tight opening sets and then pulled away in the third set for a 26-24, 25-22, 25-14 sweep of Stanton in the first round of the Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament last Monday.
The Knights hit .227 as a team and recorded 29 kills, led by Sophie Phillips nine kills.
Courtney Goodman and Bailey Hauschild each added seven kills and Rachel Wietzki keyed the offense with 25 set assists.
East Mills 25-25-25
South Page 9-9-9
Alex Knop smacked down 17 kills for East Mills in a 25-9, 25-9, 25-9 in a sweep of South Page in the opening round of the Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament last Monday.
“Our passing was spot on tonight and we stayed focused throughout the match,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank.
Knop hit .593 on the night as the Wolverines finished with a .262 hitting percentage to go along with their 36 kills.
East Mills’ serve was nearly perfect – 71-of-73 for .973 – with 13 aces.
Gracee Meyer picked up nine kills and Rachel Schafer had 20 set assists and five digs.