Raiders play Wilton tough, start season 4-1

Six of seven area teams kicked off their volleyball seasons this week.

Year three for Williamsburg under head coach Brittni Powell is off to a good start.

The Raiders went 4-0 at the Lisbon Classic Tuesday, defeating Tipton, Central Elkader Alburnett and Clayton Ridge. Tipton was the only team that was able to force a third set.

Fast forward to Thursday. The Raiders traveled to play Class 3A No. 9 Wilton. Although they lost, they took the Beavers to a full five sets.

After Wilton took the first set, the Raiders won sets two and three by scores of 27-25 and 25-23. The Beavers took the winning fifth set 15-7 to seal the win.

Through five matches sisters Clarissa and Kylee Suhr have 40 and 35 kills respectively.

Averi Nielsen has a total of 81 assists and 16 aces.

Here is a look at some other area action from the week.

Keota Tournament

KEOTA — English Valleys started its season 1-2 Monday in a tournament at Keota.

After a 23-21 first-set loss to Highland, the Bears came back strong, winning set two 21-9 and the winner-take-all set in dominating fashion, 15-5.

Hillcrest Academy and Keota defeated the Bears in straight sets.

Ava Gehrking piled up 25 kills in the three matches to go along with six blocks.

Hadyn Bender totaled 37 of the team’s 40 assists as the setter.

BGM wins home opener

BROOKLYN — In a South Iowa Cedar League season-opening matchup, BGM beat Lynnville-Sully 3-1. The match doesn’t count toward conference standings.

All four sets were competitive and close.

BGM took the first set 25-23, dropped the second set 25-20 but sealed the match by winning the next two sets by scores of 26-24 and 25-19.

Emersyn Minnaert led the offense with 13 kills, with Kylie Arment totaling 22 assists on the team’s 44 kills.

BGM defeated GMG 3-0 Thursday.

Colfax-Mingo Tournament

COLFAX — Iowa Valley opened its volleyball season 1-2 Saturday at Colfax-Mingo.

The Tigers defeated East Marshall in three sets with scores of 21-17, 13-21 and 15-12.

Coon Rapids-Bayard beat the Tigers in straight sets, and Nodaway Valley won in three.

Albia Tournament

ALBIA — Montezuma competed in a seven-team round robin tournament in Albia Saturday.

The Bravettes went 2-4 on the day.

Other teams competing were Southeast Warren, Grand View Christian, North Mahaska, Albia, Moravia and Seymour.