The Sparta Lady Bulldogs went 2-3 at the River-to-River Conference preseason volleyball tournament held Saturday at Herrin High School.
Sparta, showing signs of improvement after the home opening loss to Wesclin, opened with a loss to a much improved Massac County squad 25-13, 25-22. The Lady Bulldogs then sneaked past Pinckneyville in the second match of the day 18-25, 25-22, 15-13 before dropping a 25-17, 25-13 match to a very talented Benton team. Sparta then advanced to play the host Herrin Lady Tigers winning 25-21, 15-25, 15-12. In the fifth match of the day West Frankfort downed the Bulldogs 25-15, 25-15.
“Our day is very reflective of how the year has started off,” said Sparta coach Roger Gerlach. “We just can’t reach that level of consistency that we need. Right now we can play pretty steadily, then one or two phases of the game go in the tank, and we really play poorly. I think that comes with the inexperience factor, and the sooner we get to that point that we know what and or whom we need to go to, we will be OK.”
The offensive woes continued, as in the three losses on the day, the Lady Bulldog hitters would have more hitting errors than kills in the match. Jessica Robinson and Gabby Gallois collected 16 and 14 kills, respectively, during the tourney to lead the hitting attack. Robinson averaged 1.9 blocks per game on the day. Serving, the Bulldogs were 172 of 186 with 24 aces for a 92 percent serve grade.
“We just have to value the volleyball all the time,” added Gerlach. “If you control the ball, you certainly will improve the hitting stats, and that is very important to success in this game.”
The results of the day leave Sparta with an overall record of 2-4.
The Lady Bulldogs will host Carterville for the first time ever in River-to-River action Thursday, with the freshman beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Sparta will then travel Labor Day weekend to the Carbondale Preview Tournament where the team will play Mt. Carmel and Waterloo along with Herrin. The first match is at 9 a.m. Saturday.