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Washington starts SEC Tournament 3-0
Demons beat Ft Madison, MP, Keokuk on Day 1 of conference tournament play
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Aaron Six celebrated his birthday on the court Monday night. The Washington volleyball coach enjoyed a rendition of happy birthday and accepted a card from his players, who gave Six an additional gift in the form of three wins for the Demons on Day 1 of the Southeast Conference Tournament.
“I told them afterwards that was a great birthday gift to go 3-0,” Six said. “Now we’ve set the stage for next week, and we’re looking forward to getting better.”
The Demons swept all three matches Monday. Washington picked up 2-0 wins over Fort Madison (25-7, 25-9), Mount Pleasant (27-25, 25-20) and Keokuk (25-19, 25-13) to remain perfect against SEC competition this season.
Washington has now won 14 of its last 15 matches, including nine in a row. The Demons last loss to a conference opponent was Sept. 10, 2024, a 0-3 defeat to Burlington.
Washington has no plans to coast into Day 2 of the tournament Monday. The Demons will play in the Pella Invite on Saturday which will also include Class 1A’s No. 2 ranked side Holy Trinity, Class 4A No. 3 ranked Pella and Class 5A’s No. 7 ranked team West Des Moines Valley.
“Our schedule is pretty tough when you look at the tournaments we’re in and the teams we were playing throughout,” Six said. “So that is a nice push and really (good) measuring stick to see where we’re at before the end of conference and then going into regional play.”
Knoxville and Grinnell will also participate in the Pella Invite. Washington lost four matches at the tournament last year before it went on to win its final two SEC Tournament games.
Fairfield went 2-1 on the first day of tournament play. The Trojans beat Mount Pleasant 2-0 (25-15, 25-22), Keokuk 2-0 (25-18, 25-15) lost its final match of the night to Burlington 0-2 (18-25, 15-25).
“We had to work a little harder in the match against Keokuk than I wanted to, unfortunately, but I was happy that they pulled through,” Trojans coach Vicki Rebling said. “They came back from behind there and won both of those first two games in two sets so we could save some energy. Not really how I wanted things to work out against Burlington, but they came ready to play. All credit to them.”
Elyse Setterstrom racked up 18 kills over Fairfield’s three matches. Natalie Steele tallied 16, including seven in the Trojans win over Mount Pleasant. Mallory Wigle had six aces against Keokuk. The Trojans ended the first set against the Chiefs on a 7-0 run went up 10-3 to start the second and set up a comfortable victory.
Despite losses to the Demons and Trojans, Mount Pleasant competed well in its two matches Monday. The Panthers came narrowly close to taking the second set against Fairfield, and came back from 22-19 down to take a 25-24 lead in the first set against Washington.
“I just told (the players), those are two good teams, but so are we,” Panthers coach Alicia Schrader said. “We’re right there every time and we’re not going to give up. We’re just going to keep fighting and keep pushing these next few practices, and we’ll keep coming together. I told them, the season’s not over. We still have a lot to do this season.”
Day 2 of the round robin SEC volleyball tournament start at 5 p.m. Oct. 13. All matches will be played inside Wright Fieldhouse at Keokuk High School.
Mount Pleasant will play Burlington, Fort Madison and Keokuk. The Panthers each beat the Chiefs and Bloodhounds once and lost twice to the Greyhounds this season.
Fairfield will face Washington and Fort Madison. The Demons will play Burlington in addition to their match against the Trojans.
