No. 5 Van Buren wins WACO tournament

WAYLAND - It was a battle of Warriors in the championship of Monday night's eight-team tournament at WACO High School, but it was the black white who came out on top in three sets.

Van Buren outlasted WACO in a three-set thriller. They took the first set 25-19, dropped the next one 25-19 and grinded out a 15-10 win to clinch the tournament championship.

'All around, there's not a bad player on the team,” said senior hitter Selena Sayre after the game. 'If you put somebody out there, we all have faith in each other. We all know that whoever is put out there can do the job.”

Van Buren cruised through pool play 6-0. They defeated Centerville 21-18 and 21-11 in their first match, crushed Sigourney 21-8 and 21-7 in their next match, and defeated West Burlington 21-18 and 21-17 in their third. West Burlington was the defending tournament champion from last year.

All that left was WACO in the championship, where fifth-ranked Van Buren prevailed despite a fierce effort from the baby blue.

'They're really sound,” head coach Matt Zietler said about his championship opponent. 'But errors breed errors. Once we get that five-point advantage, we're tough to beat.”

WACO didn't have too much trouble in their first two pool play matches. The Warriors beat Columbus 21-18 and 21-14.

Pekin gave WACO all they could handle in the last pool play game of the night for both teams. The Pantehrs took the first set 21-18, but WACO battled back to win the second set 21-11 and the third set 15-9, earning their way into the championship.

Pekin finished the night 1-2. They defeated Columbus 21-10 and 21-13 but couldn't handle Wapello, falling 21-10 in both sets.

Columbus went 0-3 on the day. Along with their losses to WACO and Pekin, the Wildcats fell 21-13 and 21-14 against Wapello.

Centerville and Wapello were the third and fourth-place teams respectively. The Big Reds defeated the Arrows in the third place match, taking a three-set nail-biter much like the title match on the other court.