The Marissa-Coulterville volleyball team seems to be hitting its stride late in the season after a two-set victory 26-24, 25-18 over Steeleville Tuesday night in Cahokia Conference action.
Kendra Goss led the Lady Meteors attack with six kills, while Chelsea Weekley and Camille Bumann each had five kills in the win. Jessica Antry and Bailey Setzkorn each added three kills in the balanced Marissa-Coulterville hitting attack. Brianne Tedrow dished out 20 assists in the victory.
“Our setter is really moving around her sets more and the hitters are adjusting themselves better,” said first-year Marissa-Coulterville coach Jaidra Boman. “We are using our middle hitter much quicker now and are overall timing is better. I am very pleased with our passing. We are playing more consistently and as a team.”
In set one, the Lady Meteors broke open a close contest with a run of eight consecutive points to turn an 11-10 lead into a 19-10 advantage. Over that stretch, Weekley came through with four kills, while Goss added an ace and a kill.
Steeleville fought back late in the set with a 6-0 run to tie the score at 24-24.
However, that would be as close as the Lady Warriors would get, as Marissa-Coulterville rallied off the next two points for the 26-24 first set victory.
Behind a couple of aces from Erin Horman and multiple kills from Goss and Bumann, the Lady Meteors built an early 10-2 lead in set two.
Marissa-Coulterville continued to cruise in the second set as the team increased its lead to 11 points, 22-11 after an ace from Tedrow.
The Lady Warriors, however, didn’t have any quit in them and responded with a 7-1 scoring run behind three kills from Alex Gale and aces from Mackenzie Doeding and Taylor Grafton to close with five points, 23-18.
Marissa-Coulterville closed out the game with consecutive kills from Goss and Bumann for the 25-18 win.
“We are in a slump and falling short of wins by just a few points,” said Steeleville coach Renee Rheinecker. “We just can't seem to find any consistency because we keep having to change the line up due to injuries and other circumstances. I have such a small team and most of my varsity players have to play most of the junior varsity game as well. We played hard tonight against a team that is much bigger than us. We just make too many mistakes at the wrong times and kill our momentum.”
Gale finished with five kills and two blocks to pace Steeleville, while Brooke Rees added two kills, three blocks and six points. Taylor Grafton led the Lady Warriors in assists with four and also scored four service points.
With the win, Marissa-Coulterville improved to 11-14 overall.