East Mills notches first loss, finishes third at Mount Ayr tournament

The East Mills volleyball team was knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten with a pair of losses at the Mount Ayr Invitational last weekend.

The Class 1A No. 6 ranked Wolverines (14-2 overall, 3-0 in the conference) went 3-2 for the day, finishing second in pool play behind Shenandoah.  After scoring a 21-11, 21-6 victory over Wayne in their pool opener, East Mills dropped its first match of the season, 21-11, 19-21, 14-16 to Shenandoah. They bounced back to win their final pool play match, 21-13, 22-20 over Martensdale-St. Mary’s.

East Mills coach Connie Blank said the despite the loss, her team’s best match of the day was against a tough Shenandoah team.  

“We had a very close second and third set and could have went either way,” she said.  “We got a little too soft with our hitting at the end of each set and needed to be more aggressive.  But very happy with how we played overall.

In the semifinal against Winterset, the Wolverines struggled with serving and serve receive most of the match but made a big comeback in the second set before coming up short in 17-25, 23-25 loss.  

Blank’s bunch bounced back in the consolation match to down Lamoni 25-19, 25-12.

“Overall it was a great day of tough competition which will only make us better,” Blank said.  

Alex Knop led the Wolverines with 43 kills and added 40 digs in the tournament. Dezirae Drake and Kassidy Croghan each added 15 kills.

Lexi Ungry paced the offense with 43 sets assists.

East Mills 25-25-25
Griswold 23-12-18

Alex Knop knocked down 17 kills for East Mills in a 25-23, 25-12, 25-18 sweep of Griswold on the road last Tuesday.
Knop led a Wolverine attack that hit .147 as a team and recorded 34 kills. Madison Williams added six kills and Rachel Drake five in the win.

Despite the strong attack numbers, East Mills coach Connie Blank wasn’t happy about her team’s play overall.

“Our ball control, defense, and our communicating out on the court were not very good tonight,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank. “We came in flat and Griswold came ready to play.  Tonight wasn’t very pretty but the girls got the job done and our serving was excellent.”

Dezirae Drake dished up 20 assists, was perfect at the service line (18-for-18) and added four aces.

Brittney Beebe and Loryn Peterson led Griswold with six kills each.