Pity any poor souls who left the gym early for Iola Middle School’s first home volleyball matches of the season.
It wasn’t looking pretty early on for the IMS eighth-grade A team as visiting Osawatomie took firm control with a pair of convincing set victories, 25-10 and 25-13.
But Iola didn’t flinch.
Trinity Olive and Moira Springer put together big scoring runs as Iola stayed alive with a 25-17 set victory.
Things really started happening from there. The Mustangs fended off three match points in the fourth set before Hilary Gean served up the final three points in a 26-24 win.
That set up a winner-take all third set, and a similar pattern followed. Osawatomie looked to have things in hand, leading 14-11, needing just one more point to win.
But this time, Iola’s Cora Boren stepped up, rattling off four straight service points for a 16-14 victory.
“I can’t put into words how proud I am of these girls,” Iola head coach Aubrey Westhoff said. “The other team really felt like they had it in the bag, but the girls came back and beat them in the last three sets. It was an amazing thing to watch.”
Olive led the way with five aces and six good serves. Gean had two aces and 10 good serves. Boren had three aces and 13 good serves. Springer and Ember Friend had one ace apiece. Springer also had 11 good passes.
IN OTHER IMS action, the eighth-grade B team split its four sets, winning the first two, 25-21 and 25-13, before Osawatomie won the final two, 25-13 and 25-13.
Iola’s eighth-grade C team won in straight sets, 25-21.
Leanna Flory led the B-teamers with six aces. Willow Cremmer and Tarra Sailor added five aces apiece. Helena Morrison and Brynna Jelinek both had three aces; London Hutton had two.
“They played so hard,” Westhoff said. “Willow had some great plays at the net.”
IOLA’s seventh-graders also had a successful day on the court.
The A team Mustangs won in dominating fashion, 25-8, 25-13 and 25-11, while the B team narrowly missed out on a sweep, winning 25-16, 25-8 , 22-25 and 25-8.
“The girls played great and are really coming together,” head coach Emily Sigg said. “Stephani Perry and Maicy Kimball each had big serving runs.”
