Lady Cougars drop three at home invitational
Little River win tourney
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The inexperience of the Lady Cougars showed itself Saturday as they lost all three matches in pool play at the volleyball invitational at Centre High School.
They started out well in the opening match with Berean Academy, serving the ball almost flawlessly and providing good spikes and blocks at the net, but lost in three games, 23-25, 25-20, and 18-25.
In the first game, on serves by Kylie Burhoop, Centre led 11-6, and maintained the lead for some time, but Berean crept up and tied the game at 17-17. The Lady Cougars ended up losing by two points, 23-25.
The two teams started the second game neck-and-neck, but good service by Samantha Alvarez gave Centre a 16-9 lead. Good serving and spiking by Leann Pankratz contributed to a 25-20 win.
Buoyed by the win, the girls came out energized for the third game. Service by Amy Hajek gave Centre a 4-0 lead. Good front line play by Pankratz and Burhoop kept the Lady Cougars in the lead until a 10-10 and 11-11 tie.
After that, they had trouble handling the ball and were defeated, 18-25, to lose the match.
In the next match, the team had little chance against top-seeded Little River, and was defeated in two quick games, 10-25, and 16-25.
In the third and final match against Marion, the girls seemed to have lost their energy and concentration. Their serving and setting was poor, and they struggled to return the ball.
However, they did come back to tie the game, 18-18, before losing, 20-25.
The second game was close all the way until a 20-20 tie, after which Marion went on to win, 25-21. It was Marion's only win in pool play.
In the semi-finals, Little River defeated Herington in two games, and Hope defeated Berean Academy in three games.
Herington defeated Berean Academy in three games for third place, and Little River defeated Hope in two games for the championship.
Centre Statistics compiled
Service points: Kylie Burhoop 16, Samantha Alvarez 15, Amy Hajek 11, Bridgette Burns 7, Leann Pankratz 6, Dallas Rosenow 4, Carlye Simons 2, Josie Peterson 2.
Team serving: 121-of-134.
Individual aces: Burhoop 6, Pankratz 5, Hajek 2, Burns 1, Rosenow 1, Alvarez 1, Peterson 1.
Setting: Hajek 52-of-66, Alvarez 56-of-73.
Spikes, kills, blocks: Burhoop 37-of-44, 16, 0; Pankratz 28-of-37, 10, 2; Burns 26-of-35, 9, 0; Simons 12-of-20, 4, 1.
