Steeleville falls to Gibault, Murphysboro in Labor Day tournament

The Steeleville Lady Warriors volleyball team knew they would face a great challenge as soon as the pools were released for the Marissa/New Athens Labor Day Volleyball tournament as they were paired with perennial powers Murphysboro and Gibault.
“With the two teams we were going to face at the start, we knew it would be a tough challenge,” said Steeleville coach Amy Brown.
Steeleville went 0-2 Wednesday night, falling to Gibault 21-11 and 21-9.
Against Gibault, the Lady Warriors were competitive early in the first set and even led 6-5 after a pair of kills from Jessica Troue and kills by Brooke Rees and Jenny Frederking.
However, Gibault outscored Steeleville 16-5 the rest of the way to claim the first set 21-11. Rees finished the set with three kills, while Frederking and Troue each added two.
In the second set, Gibault took control right from the start taking a 5-1 lead. Steeleville couldn’t get their attack going as Gibault increased their lead to 15-5 and cruised to a 21-9 win to take the match.
“In the first game, you could see the nervousness from the team,” added Brown. “The squad was still working out the kinks, but there were moments of greatness.”
In the second game of the tournament, Steeleville faced the powerful Murphysboro Lady devils featuring Division I recruit Jessica Whitehead.

 

The Lady Warriors played right with Murphysboro for the most part as the set was tied 7-7 after 14 points. The Murphysboro attack got rolling as they went on a 14-2 run to end the set 21-9.
The Steeleville offense was led by Rees (two kills), while Frederking, Alex Gale and Troue all added a kill in the opening set.
Steeleville fought right back in the second set claiming a 3-0 lead. Murphysboro rallied back outscoring the Lady Warriors 8-3 for an 8-6 advantage. Murphysboro would increase their lead over the pesky Lady Warriors 18-13.

While it would have been easy for Steeleville to just hang it up at that point, the Lady Warriors fought back behind three kills by Troue, a pair of kills each from Rees and Jesse Husband to cut Murphysboro’s lead to 18-16.
Unfortunately for Steeleville, the late rally was not enough as Murphysboro held on for a 21-17 win.
“The potential is here,” said Brown. “This team is very persistent and they didn’t give up. I would have been real easy for them to just lay down in the second set, but they didn’t, they kept fighting. Considering who we played, I think we played pretty well. It is great experience for them early in the season.”

Steeleville finished up play in pool C with a 0-2 record, while Gibault finished 1-1 and Murphysboro moved on to the semifinals at 2-0.
Steeleville will face the third place team out of pool A in the last game Thursday at Marissa.
In other tournament action,  Marissa-Coulterville topped Pinckneyville 18-21, 21-17, and 15-11 on Tuesday night, while Red Bud defeated Lebanon 21-18, 15-21, and 15-10. Pinckneyville fought back to edge Red Bud 21-12, and 21-17, while  Lebanon beat Marissa-Coulterville 21-14, 19-21, and 15-13; Du Quoin topped Valmeyer 21-15 and 21-15; Mehlville defeated Wesclin 21-18 and 21-16; Mehlville rolled past Du Quoin 21-9 and 21-11; and Wesclin topped Valmeyer 21-17 and 25-23.
In other action from Wednesday night, Murphysboro beat Gibault 14-21, 21-17, and 15-10; Chester knocked off New Athens 21-19 and 21-14; Columbia cruised past Trico 21-9 and 21-3; and Columbia defeated Chester 21-11 and 21-12.
The tournament continues play Thursday and Friday at Marissa and New Athens