Bears 4th at home tourney

NORTH ENGLISH — The English Valleys volleyball team hosted its home tournament Saturday. A total of eight teams competed.

The teams were divided into pools of four and played three matches against each their pool opponents.

The Bears started began the day with Cardinal and won the match in two sets.

The Bears started on a 10-1 run in the first set and eased their way to a 21-12 set win.

The second set was more competitive, but the Bears put it away late, ending the match on a Joslyn Bender kill.

Bender and sophomore Ava Gehrking had 13 kills total.

“Serving was a strong point for us,” English Valleys head coach Robert Barrick said.

The Bears were 14 of 16 on serves in the first match.

The second match for the Bears, against East Marshall, proved to be highly entertaining.

The lead went back and forth in the first set, and East Marshall had set point up 20-17.

A kill by Olivia Debevec tied things at 20, but the Mustangs pulled away and won 22-20.

“East Marshall posed a big challenge winning the first set but we were able to rally back,” Barrick said.

In the second set, the Bears had many effective placements shots over the top of the Mustangs defense.

The Bears kept their cushion at a few points and ended the match with a block from Debevec and Aliza Walker to win 21-17 and force a third set.

The Bears came out hot in the third set and were up 9-4 before the Mustangs fought back to within one at 13-12.

A kill and block from Gehrking won the match and the set, 15-12.

“Hadyn Bender’s accurate sets helped the team to 18 of their 24 kills with Gehrking, Debevec and Christy Knapp combining for 20,” Barrick said.

Competing for a spot in the championship match, the Bears fell to Winfield-Mt. Union in two sets by a score of 21-13 in each.

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“Our serving percentage took a dip to under 85% against a strong Winfield-Mt. Union team and we were unable to consistently side-out and score,” Barrick said on the loss.

In the consolation match for third place, the Bears fell to Hillcrest Academy.

Coach Barrick noted Hillcrest’s serving as tough to get the offense going off of.

Sigourney won the tournament, defeating Winfield Mt. Union in the championship match.

“The first two matches of the day gave us an idea of what we are capable of and set our sights higher for the future,” Barrick said following the tournament.

“Despite dropping the last two matches, we did fight back in the final set of the day.”

The Bears were 3-7 on the season after Saturday play.