Warriors clip Cardinal in 3-straight sets

KEOSAUQUA - Each of the three sets played at Van Buren County High School on Tuesday night were nail-biters, but all three went to the same team. VBC pulled out the points down the stretch time and time again en route to a Southeast Iowa Super Conference South Division sweep, beating the Comets 25-21, 25-20, 25-22.

It was the Comets that started out hot early on. Emma Becker kicked off the game with an ace and Trista Benedict tallied a couple of aces of her own to help the Comets jump out to a 4-2 lead. Van Buren County tied the game on multiple occasions, but couldn't break the tie until late in the set.

With the game tied at 17-17 after a kill by VBC's Isabel Manning, Shae Scott gave the Warriors their first lead of the game with a kill to make it 18-17 Warriors. Ella Jirak had two kills and an ace between that moment and the end of the set, which VBC would close out on a Cardinal service error.

The Comets scored the first three points of the second set but the Warriors roared back to knot it at 3-3 on a Chelsea Huff kill. Cardinal scored the next three, including back-to-back aces by Trista Benedict, but once again the Warriors clawed back.

VBC snatched the lead at 13-12 on another kill by Scott. The game was tied a few more times, at 15-15, 16-16 and 18-18, but the Warriors would grab a 19-18 lead on a kill by Huff and end the set on a 7-2 run, their second comeback victory of the night.

'They've overcome some deficits already this year, so I wasn't too worried,” said head coach Abby Manning. 'They came back strong, and I'm really proud of them.”

VBC led for most of the third period. The Warriors led by as much as six, at 10-4, but Cardinal never went away.

With the game tied at 17-17, Huff went on a huge service run, which featured three aces, to bring the score to 22-17. Cardinal matched that with five of their own, tying the game up on 22-22 on a Benedict block, but the next three points went to VBC to close out the game.

Cardinal coach Katie Orwig said her Comet team still is growing. The Comets were only in their second night of action after having their season opener postponed last week. She says her squad needed to do a better job at stopping VBC's runs.

'Sometimes volleyball is a mental game,” Orwig said. 'Sometimes you let one turn into two, and that's what really got us tonight, not being able to side out when we needed to and get that momentum swing.”

The Comets fell to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play with the loss. They'll host WACO on Thursday.

The Warriors moved to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conferenc eplay. They'll look to win their fourth game in seven tries on Thursday night at Central Lee, which wouldn't be a bad start for a group of fresh faces after a huge graduating class last season. 'They are truly learning every day,” Coach Manning said. 'I'm seeing progression every day, and I keep telling them ‘it's not where you start, it's where you finish.'”