Belle Plaine volleyball rolls through Keota

KEOTA — The Plainsmen women made the trip south Sept. 25 to take on Keota. Three sets later, the match was decided; Belle Plaine went home with the victory.

Keota (6-7) kept it close to start set one, but Belle Plaine pulled away for the 25-13 set win.

Set two was more of the same as the Plainsmen (14-9) again created some distance in a 25-15 win.

Set three proved to be more of a challenge as Belle Plaine came away with the tight 25-23 set and match victory.

“I think we battled well, considering we have some injury and sickness right now. We served tough and played good defense throughout,” said Plainsmen Coach April Kressley.

“When traveling to Keota, it is always important to come prepared for a battle, as they love to compete,” said Kressley.

Kayleah Laughlin led the offensive charge with 12 kills, and Layne McLeod added 26 assists.

Defensively, Alyssa Steinback contributed 21 digs, and Janessa Blomme recorded two blocks. Blomme and Steinback each had three service aces.

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English Valleys vs Sigourney

The battleground was Sigourney High School. The invaders hailed from English Valleys. By the end of the day Sept. 25, the Savages of Sigourney prevailed, but not without a fight.

Set one required extra points to determine the outcome. Sigourney (9-5) outlasted the Bears 26-24.

English Valleys (11-11) came storming back in sets two and three, winning 25-19 and 25-18. Sigourney rebounded in set four, 25-17, to take the match to the tie-break set.

The final frame broke Sigourney’s way 15-8 giving it the 3-2 match win.

The Bears were paced on the offensive side by Libby Armstrong and Delaney Hall’s combined 34 assists and Imigyn Stratton and Ava Gehrking’s 21 kills.

Stratton also led the way with 26 digs, and Gehrking added 10 blocks. Anna Gorsh had four aces.

The teams were very evenly matched as evidenced in the statistics. Assists broke 38-37 in favor of EV. Kills favored Sigourney 47-45, and kill attempts again gave the slight edge to the Savages, 177-176.

The Bears had 16 blocks compared to the home team’s seven.

Iowa Valley vs Tri County

Iowa Valley visited Tri-County last Monday and took three of four sets from the Trojans for a 3-1 match win.

Set one belonged to the Tigers (6-18) with a 25-20 win. Set two saw the Trojans (1-17) rally for the 25-18 victory.

Then Iowa Valley took over, winning 25-20 and 25-13 in sets three and four respectively.

Individual stats were not available at the time of this writing.

HLV vs Montezuma

HLV came away with a three-set win against conference opponent Montezuma Monday, Sept. 25 in Victor.

The Warriors (7-15) won the straight set tilt 25-18, 25-20 and 25-16 and have now been on the good side of the match-up with the Braves four of the last five meetings.

Montezuma (6-14) did win the two teams’ last faceoff earlier this year.

HLV dominated some of the stats, leading in assists 33 to 17, kills 41 to 19 and serve aces 5 to 1.

Individual leaders for the Warriors included Hailey Jack’s 28 assists, Ema Robert’s 18 kills, Addy Shaull’s 19 digs and Raegen Stowell’s three aces.

English Valleys at New London Tournament

English Valleys capped a busy volleyball week with a trip to New London Saturday. The Bears went 2-2 on the day.

West Burlington brought its 33-4 record and Class 2A No. 9 ranking into the match with the Bears and made quick work of it.

The Falcons prevailed 21-13 and 21-6 for the match win. Next up was Winfield-Mt Union (15-10) — and this one was close. English Valleys took set one 21-19, but dropped the next two, 21-16 and 15-12.

Games three and four found the Bears back on the winning side. EV lost the first set 21-14 to host New London (5-14), but rallied for set wins of 21-12 and 15-6 to take the match 2-1. Next up was Louisa-Muscatine (0-17) who could not hang with the Bears.