Wolverines top field at Bedford tournament

The East Mills volleyball team capped a 5-0 day at the Bedford Volleyball Invitational Tournament on Saturday for the first time in school history.  

The Wolverines (20-3 overall, 3-1 in the conference) picked up their second tournament championship this season with pool play wins over Central Decatur 19-21, 21-9, 15-9, Stanton 17-21, 21-19, 15-12 and East Union 21-0, 21-6. In the elimination bracket, East Mills downed Lamoni 25-9, 26-24 in the semifinals and then earned a 25-15, 25-15 victory over Mount Ayr in the championship match.

“We started off slow in the morning and had to battle back against Central Decatur and Stanton in pool play winning both matches 2-1,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank. “We have to do a better job of moving and talking.  The little things make a big difference and we will continue to work on those and keep improving.  Overall for the day, I’m very proud of the girls effort, staying focused, and, as always, great teamwork.”

The Wolverine attack was led by Alex Knop on the day. The junior had 52 kills in the five matched and she added 25 digs and 12 ace serves. Madison Williams put down 17 kills and Kassidy Croghan 16.

Dezirae Drake recorded 64 assists and Lexi Ungry 43.

East Mills 25-25-24-22-15
Mount Ayr 15-23-26-25-4

East Mills won a very hard fought five set match against Mt Ayr on Thursday night.

The Wolverines won the first two games 25-15, 25-23 before Mount Ayr evened it up with 26-24, 25-22 win to force a fifth and deciding set with a 15-4 East Mills winner.

“We came out strong in the first set and held on in the second set,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank.  “We struggled with a combination of errors, lack of communication, and not moving on defense all night, but re-focused in the fifth set, took control and finished with a win.”

Alex Knop led the way for East Mills with 25 kills and 18 digs. Madison Williams added eight kills.

Sidney 25-25-25
East Mills 16-13-19

East Mills dug itself a hole in the first two games and was never able to regain the momentum as Sidney won the battle of top 10 ranked Corner Conference volleyball teams in Malvern last Tuesday.

The Class 2A, No. 6 ranked Cowgirls (21-2 overall, 4-0 in the conference) seemed a step quicker in their 25-16, 25-13, 25-19 sweep of the Class 1A, No. 6 ranked Wolverines (14-3 overall, 3-1 in the conference).

“The speed of the game was faster than what we were used to,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank after the match. “We were struggling to get things down on them. Sidney does such a great job defensively. It was frustrating.”

In the opening game, Sidney trailed 2-0 but them rattled off 10 of the next 12 points to take a 10-4 lead. East Mills would get no closer the rest of the game.

Game two followed a similar pattern: the Cowgirls opened with a 6-0 lead then extended it to 16-5. The Wolverines could never get closer than nine point deficit the rest of the way.

The Wolverines fought back in third set, getting down 6-4, 10-7 and 13-10 only to battle back and tie it up each time. But the Wolverines could never get over the hump and after cutting the lead to 21-19, the Cowgirls, who have won 17 straight this season, scored four straight points to end the set and the match.

Blank said it never felt like her team found it’s rhythm offensively and the Cowgirls took advantage.

“We’ve been up and down in that area,” Blank said of her team’s offensive flow. “I just think we had a lot of nerves in the beginning. We kind of settled down and battled but they just didn’t give us anything easy. Nothing was easy for us (offensively) and that was tough.”

The Cowgirls hit an efficient .267 with 46 kills compared the Wolverines’ .106 hitting and 24 kills.

Alex Knop led the Wolverines with six kills. Lexi Ungry recorded 15 assists.

Camryn McClintock led three Sidney hitters in double figure kills with 13.