Demons take fourth place at Wapello tourney

Washington finished second in its pool at Tuesday?s volleyball tournament in Wapello, but the Demons lost their third-place match to Keota.

Washington opened the night by sweeping Columbus by scores of 21-9 and 21-14. Then the Demons defeated Central Lee by scores of 22-20, 17-21 and 15-11.

But the Demons ran into Holy Trinity, the fourth-ranked team in Class 1A, in their final match in pool play. The Crusaders swept Washington by scores of 21-8 and 21-12.

That sent the Demons into the third-place match against Keota. Washington won the opening set 25-20, but the Eagles came back to win the final two sets by scores of 25-22 and 15-11.

?That Keota match could have gone either way,? Washington head coach Jeff Spenner said. ?At the end you could tell the girls were getting tired. It was after 10 o?clock, and the girls were getting sluggish.?

Even though his team finished fourth at the tournament, Spenner was pleased with the improvement he saw from his Demons (3-5).

?We played a lot better last night,? he said. ?It was definitely way better than the Grinnell tournament. I thought our serve receive and digging was better. Our servers were being more aggressive, and we had more aces.?

Senior Beth Dillon served 10 aces and was good on 97 percent of her serves on the evening. Senior Lauren Kimball had five aces while serving 94 percent. Senior Sammy Ellingson and sophomore Lauren Swan both served 92 percent on the night.

Junior Stephanie Fishback spiked down 21 kills to lead the Demons offensively, and Ellingson added 15 kills. Dillon had 13 kills to go with a team-high seven blocks, and sophomore Anna Wheeler added six blocks. Swan chipped in 10 kills. Kimball set up the hitters with 50 assists.

Fishback led Washington defensively with 43 digs, and she also had three blocks. Ellingson had 32 digs to go with four blocks, and Swan had 23 digs. Junior Maddie Collins chipped in 21 digs.

Washington has a week off before hosting Southeast Conference rival Mt. Pleasant in its home opener next Tuesday at the new high school.