Rams fall on road at Shenandoah

Kealey Anderson and Logan Hughes had 15 kills each as unranked Shenandoah upset Class 4A, No. 13 ranked Glenwood 25-23, 25-23, 25-23 in Hawkeye 10 Conference volleyball last Tuesday night.

Glenwood coach Chelsey Hirt said her team didn’t have the same energy against the Fillies they’d shown in winning six of their previous eight matches.

“Our biggest issue was a lack of energy,” Hirt said. “I think our girls came in expecting to take the match and I think we underestimated them. We talked about having our block up. Logan Hughes and Kealey Anderson are huge hitters. And our lack of energy and communication there killed us.”

The Rams (11-6 overall, 2-1 in the conference) weathered a 12-3 Fillie run in game one and came back to tie the score at 20-20 but couldn’t string together a run to pull out the win.

It was a pattern that repeated itself over-and-over for Glenwood.

“They (Shenandoah) are such a consistent team,” Hirt said. “Their defense was really on; they got all of our balls up and they found all our spots and worked it really hard for us. It was hard for us to come back. We’d go on a three or four point run and we’d still be down two. It was hard for us to get over the hump of the big leads. Our block just wasn’t there and that definitely hurt us.”

The Rams finished with nine blocks but allowed the Fillies to smack down 37 kills.

In what turned out to be the final set, Glenwood actually led 23-19 only to have the Fillies rally to score six straight point and seal the set and match.

The play of Elle Scarborough and Brooklyn Taylor was a bright spot, Hirt said. Scarborough led the Rams with 11 kills and Taylor added eight. Glenwood hit .148 on the night with 34 kills.

“Elle played a really good game,” Hirt said. “I’m really impressed with her desire to play and how she never quits. If she makes a mistake she never gives up; she just keeps hitting it. With her only still being a sophomore, I’m really impressed with her.”

Taylor had just one hitting error in 18 swings and added four digs and two blocks.

“I’m really proud of those two,” Hirt said of Scarborough and Taylor. “Even when we were down, they kept working, and I think that helped bring us back.”

The win was the seventh straight for the Fillies (8-3 overall, 2-1 in the conference) following a 1-3 start.