After dropping an opening match to Marissa-Coulterville 21-17, 13-21, 21-19, Sparta responded with four consecutive two-set wins over Chester 21-13, 21-13, Goreville 21-9, 21-19, Steeleville 21-16, 21-13 and against Trico 21-9, 21-10 in the Trico Volleyball Tournament championship finale Thursday.
“I’m very proud of the progress we made during the week,” said Sparta coach Roger Gerlach. “We responded and were much more focused after the opening night loss. I do believe that the inconsistency should start to be less frequent with the experience our young players are getting now.”
Tournament MVP, Gabby Gallois finished the week with 56 kills in the five matches. The team passed at a very respectful 1.9 rate and served at 91 percent.  
“I thought Gabby had a nice week. We have put a load on her and she has done a nice job with it. As she gets more consistent with her shot making, she is going to be a very good player,” Gerlach concluded.
Victoria Ward added 65 assists in the five matches.  Jannice Edmonson added 27 kills.
With the tournament win, Sparta pushed its overall record to 10-9.
Joining Gallois on the all-tournament team were Alex Gale of Steeleville, Shelby Long of Chester, Allison Webb of Goreville, Kendra Goss of Marissa-Coulterville and Courtney Brandon of Trico.
With the win over Chester, coach Gerlach collected his 500th high school varisty volleyball win. According to the IHSA website, that puts him at 30th in Illinois history, 47 below Sandy Griffin of Red Bud who finished her stellar career in 2000 with 547 wins.
Sparta over Trico 21-9, 21-10
Gabby Gallois slammed down 12 kills, nine in the first set, to lead Sparta past Trico 21-9, 21-10 in the Championship finale of the Trico Tournament Thursday.
Behind four early kills from Gallois, the Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Trico would cut the deficit down to three points on two occasions but couldn’t get any closer as Sparta ended the set on an 11-3 scoring run.
Kristin Myers had two kills for Trico in set one, while Courtney Brandon added one.
The second set was much like the first one with Sparta running out to a quick 7-2 lead. After a kill by Brandon cut the Sparta lead to 7-3, the Lady Bulldogs would go on to outscore Trico 14-7 the rest of the way to clinch the tournament title.
Jannice Edmonson finished with four kills in set two for Sparta, while Brandon had two for the Lady Pioneers.
Sparta over Steeleville 21-16, 21-13
Sparta led from start to finish over Steeleville in a 21-16, 21-13 sweep in tournament play Thursday.
The Lady Bulldogs, behind three kills from Gabby Gallois and a kill from Jannice Edmonson, ran out to an 8-2 lead in set one. More good hits from Bobbi Lake, Megan Cunningham and Edmonson pushed the advantage up to 10, 14-4.
Steeleville fought back with kills from Mackenzie Doeding, Sara Potter, Allanah Renner and Alex Gale to cut the lead to five late in the set, but that would be as close as the Lady Warriors would get in a 21-16 loss.
Like set one, Sparta started off quickly, going up 6-1 after a couple of kills by Gallois. Edmonson came through with three kills in the middle of the set to help increase Sparta’s lead to 13-4.
But once again, Steeleville fought back, going on a 7-1 run highlighted by two kills from Gale. Three kills from Gallois and one from Mystical Mahnke led to Sparta closing out the set and match with a 7-2 run.
Steeleville over Chester 21-15, 21-9
Steeleville held Chester to just four kills in a two-set win over the Lady Yellow Jackets 21-15, 21-9 in tournament play Thursday.
The Lady Warriors pulled away from a 12-12 tie to outscore Chester 9-3 the rest of the way for the victory in set one 21-15. In that late charge by Steeleville, Alex Gale led the way with three kills, while Brooke Cates and Allanah Renner each added one. Michaelyn Modglin and Megan Marcinkowska each had a kill in set one to pace Chester.
Two early kills by Renner set the tone for set two as Steeleville scored the first eight points and never looked back in a 21-9 win.
Chester over Marissa-Coulterville 21-14, 19-21, 22-20
Chester picked up its second win of tournament play with a 21-14, 19-21, 22-20 win over Marissa-Coulterville Thursday.
A couple of good plays at the net by Marah Laramore and two kills from Morgan Colvis sparked the Lady Jackets to take a 9-3 lead.
For the Lady Meteors, Kendra Goss and Christa Tedrow each threw down three kills, but it was not enough as Chester claimed set one 21-14.
Michaelyn Modglin had a good set two with five kills and a block for a point to lead Chester to a 12-8 lead, the biggest advantage of the set to that point.
Four roofs (roof - a ball that when spiked is blocked by a defensive player such that the ball deflects straight to the floor on the attacker’s side) from Gross turned the momentum over to Marissa-Coulterville.
Trailing 12-8, the Lady Meteors went on to score nine straight points to take a 17-12 lead.
Chester answered back with a 7-3 run paced by two kills from Modglin to trail just 20-19. Marissa-Coulterville was able to score the next point to win set two 21-19 and even the match at a set apiece.
The third set was  closely fought with neither team grabbing a lead more than two points.
Goss came through with eight kills in the set, but it was not enough as Chester scored two consecutive points with the game tied 20-20 to win the match 22-20.
Goreville over Marissa-Coulterville 21-16, 21-10
The Marissa-Coulterville Lady Meteors looked flat in the  first match Thursday against Goreville, losing 21-16, 21-10.
In set one, Marissa-Coulterville fell behind 16-6 before going on a 9-3 scoring run paced by three kills from Bailey Setzkorn.
Leading 19-15, Goreville closed out the opening set with a 21-16 win.
The Lady Meteors fell behind big in the second set as well, trailing 11-3. But this time, Marissa-Coulterville couldn’t make a run in a 21-10 loss. Kendra Goss led Marissa-Coulterville with three kills in the set, while Christa Tedrow had two and Setzkorn had one.