Wolverines fall in Corner finals

Make it four in a row for Sidney.

The Class 2A, No. 6 ranked Cowgirls won their fourth straight Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament title with 25-10, 25-17, 25-17 sweep of East Mills Thursday night in Malvern.

In the first ever appearance in the conference championship match, Class 1A, No. 8 East Mills 23-5 overall, 3-2 in the conference) never got into rhythm against the Cowgirls (29-2 overall, 5-0 in the conference).

“We had a lot of great plays, but needed more consistent passing which we will continue to work on,” said East Mills coach Connie Blank. “I’m very proud of this team for battling every play, their all-out hustle and effort, and great teamwork.   

Alex Knop led East Mills with 10 kills and 14 digs. Rachel Drake added six kills and Dezirae Drake dished up 14 set assists.

Camryn McClintock led a 42 kill Cowgirl attack with 13 kills of her own.

East Mills 25-26-25
Fremont-Mills 21-24-21

Exactly one week earlier, Fremont-Mills upset then East Mills in a marathon, five set victory.

The rematch last Tuesday in the Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament would provide a different result.

The Wolverines dug up 49 balls and never gave up anything easy to the Knights in a 25-21, 26-24, 25-21 sweep to advance to the conference finals against Sidney.

That loss one week early factored heavily in the Wolverines’ play, said East Mills coach Connie Blank.

“We weren’t happy with how we played a week ago losing to F-M in five sets,” she said. “This was a hard fought match and the girls stayed focused and aggressive to earn the sweep.”

The Wolverines didn’t have a great hitting night (just .067) but defensively dug up 49 balls and had 12 blocks.
Fremont-Mills coach Tracy Malcom said her team didn’t play up the same level they did in the earlier match up and it cost them.

We made some mental mistakes that cost us at key times, and East Mills capitalized on that,” she said. “We had tried to discuss staying mentally focused because we knew the gym would be loud and they would not be able to hear each other and hear me trying to talk to them.  We needed to put the ball away offensively, because we knew they were scrappy and couldn’t afford to give them the ball back.”

After the game, Malcom told her team the disappointing loss was a “learning experience” that will only help them as they prepare for the post-season.  

“We can go to practice tomorrow and practice on the things that we need to work on to win big ball games,” Malcom said. “At this time, we need to focus on each and every game as it comes and to stay on top and finish the game when we are up.  These girls have a lot of potential and when they are all ‘on’ anything can happen.”

Alex Knop paced East Mills with 13 kills. Kassidy Croghan and Dezirae Drake had 11 digs each.

The Knights, who would go on to sweep Stanton for third place honors in the conference tournament,  were led by Sophie Phillips and Lydia Alley with seven kills each.

Fremont-Mills 25-25-25
Heartland Christian 8-7-13

Sophie Phillips and Kenna Howard combined for 22 kills for Fremont-Mills in a 25-8, 25-7, 25-13 Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament opening round sweep of Heartland Christian last Monday.

The Knights (17-12 overall, 5-0 in the conference), seeded No. 2, pounded down 38 kills while hitting an efficient .493 in the win. Phillips had 13 kills and Howard added nine. Three others hitters recorded at least four kills.

Kaelynn Driskell set the attack with 24 assists.

East Mills 25-25-25
Essex 12-15-17

An aggressive attack led by Alex Knop’s 22 kills helped East Mills to a 25-12-17 sweep of Essex in the opening round of the Corner Conference Volleyball Tournament opening round last Monday.

The No. 3 seeded Wolverines (23-4 overall, 3-2 in the conference) overwhelmed the Trojanns with 47 kills and a blistering .407 kill efficiency. Madison Williams and Kaylor Horgdal each added six kills and Dezirae Drake chipped in five kills and paced the offense with 28 set assists.