WACO takes second at home tournament

WAYLAND - Volleyball season is officially here, and four of the Union Area schools were in WACO on Monday night for the Warriors' annual season-opening tournament. WACO faired the best group, taking second place. Van Buren County was third. Columbus went 1-1 and Pekin was 0-2.

WACO started the night off red-hot, picking up a two-set win over Columbus in the first round, 21-11 and 21-9. Van Buren County bumped off Pekin in two sets, 21-17 and 21-18 to set up an all Warrior semifinal.

In the semis, WACO kept the hot hand, winning 21-12 and 21-10 over defending champion VBC to advance to the final in their home tournament for the second-straight year. Unfortunately for the Warriors, they were defeated for the second-straight year by a Southeast Iowa Super Conference South Division rival.

West Burlington jumped on the Warriors early, getting out to a 10-3 lead in the first set to win it 21-15. The second set was tied 14-14 but the Falcons rattled off three straight points and never looked back, taking the second set by the same score, 21-15.

'They served well and got us out of system, and when we're out of system, we struggle sometimes offensively,” said WACO head coach Jay Coble. 'Everything seemed to be a scramble.”

Despite the loss, the Warriors put up good numbers on night one. Morgan Graber had 15 kills on the night. Molly McLaughlin had 14 kills. Grace Coble finished with 38 assists, and Aubri Garnsey had 20 digs.

In the third place match, VBC took down a Centerville team that had taken eventual champion West Burlington to three sets in the semifinals. That put VBC at 2-1 on the day and gave the three South Division teams in attendance the top three spots in the tournament.

'It's tough every night in the South,” Coach Coble said. 'I don't think there is a gimme. We thought Van Buren might be down this year, and they gave us two really good games.”

In the consolation bracket, Columbus met up with Pekin after their respective round one losses. The Wildcats won a thriller, taking down the Panthers in three sets; 21-11, 10-21, 15-13.

In other action around the bracket, Wapello ended the night 1-1, falling in two sets to Centerville in the opening round but defeating Sigourney in the consolation bracket. Sigourney was 0-2 with a two-set loss to West Burlington in the opener and their night-ending loss to Wapello.