Demons fourth at home tournament

Washington won its first three matches of the day to win its pool at Saturday?s home Washington Invite, but the Demons lost their final two matches to take fourth place.

Washington swept its first three opponents of the day. The Demons defeated Wapello (21-12, 21-11), Tri-County (21-11, 21-7) and Keota (21-11, 22-20) in two sets apiece to win their pool.

?In pool play we were ready to go and were focused,? Washington head coach Jeff Spenner said.

In the semifinals, Washington and IMS traded two close sets, with IMS winning the first 25-22 and the Demons winning the second 25-23. But the Demons struggled in the deciding set, and IMS won 15-3.

Iowa City Regina topped Washington by scores of 25-10, 22-25 and 16-14 in the third-place match.

?We had some spots where we didn?t look ready to play,? Spenner said. ?Overall, I thought we did a good job. But we just had five or 10 points where we just weren?t mentally ready.?

Senior Beth Dillon had 32 kills on the day to lead the Demons, and junior Stephanie Fishback added 31. Senior Sammy Ellingson chipped in 28 kills, and sopomore Lauren Swan had 14. Sophomore Anna Wheeler had eight kills, and senior Lauren Kimball had eight kills to go with 92 assists.

Kimball was 45-for-48 serving on the day with 10 aces. Ellingson was 37-for-40 serving, and Dillon went 30-for-34 with four aces. Swan added seven aces.

Ellingson had a team-high 42 digs on the day, and Fishback had 31. Junior libero Maddie Collins chipped in 21 digs, and Swan had 16. Dillon had nine blocks.

Washington (11-13) hosts back-to-back home matches starting tonight. The Demons host WACO tonight, and then host 11

^th

-ranked Fairfield tomorrow night.