East Mills second at Corner tourney

TABOR - For the second straight year Sidney is the Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament champion.

The Class 1A, No. 9 ranked Cowgirls edged No. 14 ranked East Mills 22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 13-15 in a classic five-set thriller Thursday in Tabor. Sidney took the rubber match after the two rivals split earlier meetings, the last a 17-21, 21-15, 15-9 tournament win five days earlier.

But in the finals, it was a back and forth affair from the opening serve that came down to set five.

“I’m very proud of these girls for battling every play and they played a great match,” said East Mills coach Connie Viner.  “The fourth set we were down by 11 and came back to tie it up at 21-21.  J

ust tremendous teamwork and mental toughness. We just needed to be two points better but came up short in the end.”  

The Wolverines knocked down 55 kills while hitting .142. Emily Williams had a team-high 20 of those kills and the senior added 27 digs. Evy Stoakes chipped inn 11 kills and Ryleigh Brodigan seven. Miah Urban dished up 42 set assists.

Sidney was led by Kaden Payne’s 24 kills. Eve Brumbaugh added 12 kills.

Stanton 25-25-25-25
Fremont-Mills 10-20-26-21

Fremont-Mills dug itself a 2-0 hole it could never dig out of in a 25-10, 25-20, 26-24, 25-21 loss to Stanton in the Corner Conference consolation match Thursday in Tabor.

Take out the lopsided opener and the Knights (6-22 overall, 1-2 in the conference), who have lost five starters to injuries this season, were competitive in every set.

“I’m glad we didn’t let that first set determine how the rest of the match was going to go,” said Fremont-Mills co-head coach Taylor Sudmann. “We’re down five varsity starters so we’re still building and learning how to play together. But it does feel like we’re coming together a little better.”

These same Viqueens sept the Knights way back in the season-opener in August. But Sudmann admitted the squad she had out there Thursday was hardly the same team – in development and lineup.

After dropping sets one and two in the consolation match, the Knights competed hit-for-hit with the Viqueens (19-6, 2-1) in set three. They had ties at 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 24 before kills by Carlie Chambers and Teagan Ewalt closed out the winner.

The momentum swing was brief with Stanton taking set four to close out the match, but Sudmann saw her team compete to the end.

“We always seem to start a little slow and catch our momentum on the way but we also keeping digging holes and learning to stay point for point with them,” she said.

The Knights had an efficient attack night, hitting .166 as a team with 36 kills. But Stanton was better. They hit a blistering .326 with 57 kills. Jenna Stephens led the Viqueens with 23 kills. Lauren Johnson added 10.

Ewalt led F-M with 13 kills and Chambers added 10. Ewalt also added 27 digs.

Mylie Hughes paced the Knight offense with 31 set assists.

East Mills 25-25-25
Stanton 17-15-16

East Mills got off to a hot start and cruised to a 25-17, 25-15, 25-16 sweep of No. 2 seeded Stanton in the Corner Conference Tournament semifinals last Tuesday.

“We played loose, stayed aggressive on offense, and passed the ball well all night,” said East Mills coach Connie Viner.

Emily Williams led the Wolverine attack with 20 kills. She also surpassed the 1,000 kill mark in her sterling career.

Miah Urban dished up 34 set assists to lead to the offense.

Sidney
Fremont-Mills

Sidney won a spot in the Corner Conference Tournament finals with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-16 sweep of Fremont-Mills in last Tuesday’s semifinals.

The top seeded Cowgirls had 44 kills in the win. Kaden Payne had 14 kills and Eve Brumbaugh 10.

Avery Dowling notched 31 set assists.
    
East Mills 25-25-25
Essex 5-8-10

The No. 3 seeded East Mills opened the Corner Conference volleyball tournament with a 25-5, 25-8, 25-10 sweep of Essex last Monday.

The Wolverines smacked down 44 kills and hit .443 as a team in the win.

“The girls really stayed focused and passed the ball well,” said East Mills coach Connie Viner.

Emily Williams notched a game-high 20 kills. Evy Stoakes added nine kills.

Miah Urban paced the offense with 35 set assists and dug up 13 balls defensively.

Fremont-Mills 25-23-25-20-15
Griswold 15-25-21-25-8

Teagan Ewalt had 14 kills and Lindze Smith 10 to lead Fremont-Mills to a 25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-8 win over Griswold in the opening round of the Corner Conference volleyball tournament last Monday.

The Knights hit .127 as a team but also notched 14 blocks in the victory. Emily Madison had four blocks and eight digs. Mylie Hughes led the way with 15 digs.

Hughes also paced the offense with 32 set assists.