Iola volleyball looks for revenge

(Note: I had written that Iola won a three-set match against Anderson County in Thursday’s paper. Iola lost the match. Sorry, for the inconvenience. -Spencer Michelson)

Iola High’s volleyball team will be looking for the sweetest kind of revenge against Anderson County today: A chance to move onto the Class 4A-Division II State Tournament. Iola will be eying a rematch with the Bulldogs — who beat the Fillies on Tuesday in Garnett — in a Class 4A-Division II Sub-State bracket hosted by Iola starting at 3 p.m.

Both Iola and Anderson County have beaten each other once this season and a third match at sub-state will settle which team is better. Before a rematch can take place, each team will have to win a first round match.

Anderson County (23-13) will take on Prairie View (4-27) in the first match of the tournament. Iola (22-13) squares off with Parsons (6-27) in the second match. The winners of each match face each other for a chance at moving onto the state tournament.

Iola hasn’t faced Parsons this season because they are in the Southeastern Kansas League, while Iola is in the Pioneer League. The girls are full aware of the necessity to beat the Vikings to take down the Bulldogs.

“We’ve talked about that,” said Emily Sigg, IHS coach. “We’re not overlooking anybody and realize that we have to win a game first to play in the championship.”

If the Fillies and Bulldogs win, the rematch will be set. Sigg said Iola will have an advantage over Anderson County by being able to play before a home crowd.

“Anderson County always has a large crowd,” Sigg said. “I think it’s a big difference, The crowd will be in our favor and we think that’s important that we’re hosting. We want to win here. We are excited to get home advantage.”

The Bulldogs always bring a good team to the table and the possible rematch will not come easy.

“We’ve talked about that all season,” Sigg said. “Beating them the first time was huge for us and losing the second time was rough. So, we’re really excited that we have a chance to play them for a third time.”

Iola’s team is made up of five seniors — the bulk of the 12-spot roster. Although the underclassmen have helped the Fillies tremendously this season, Sigg said the seniors have continued to be the core.

“Emma Piazza has had to step up and hit middles, so that’s been different for her this year,” Sigg said. “Kyra (Moore) started hitting off-sides a lot harder this year, so we don’t have to just rely on Emery (Driskel). And Emery still has provided us with a good solid and Addie (Haar) has also been a good solid. It’s nice to see how they are continuing to get better at each position. It doesn’t make us so one-dimensional.”

The goal for the season has been fluid all season long.

“We had a goal to win our home tournament and we got second, which was still a great accomplishment,” Sigg said. “Then, we had a goal to win league, which we are still happy we earned. But, we’re tired of getting second, we’re looking for a chance to get first in sub-state and then move on. After we win, we’ll adjust our goal. We have to focus on one thing at a time.”