The volleyball Lady Bulldogs competed in Carbondale Preview tournament coming out with a 1-2 record Saturday.  
Sparta opened the tournament avenging a loss last weekend to Anna-Jonesboro with a 25-19, 25-23 win while dropping matches to O’Fallon and Nashville in very close matches.
Erica Gallois led the offense with 11 kills in the match while Rachel Peck added nine.  Julian Sroka and Gallois combined for seven blocks while Emma Koester added 22 assists.
“We really needed to open with something positive this weekend and we did,”
 said Sparta coach Roger Gerlach. “I thought our defense at the net was much improved while we cut down our unforced errors. We still have plenty of room for improving.
In the next match of the tournament, the Bulldogs faced a very explosive  offensive team in O’Fallon.  Falling behind in the first set, Sparta could generate only 10 kills total in the match as they spent most of the game on defense. Sparta dropped the match 25-18, 26-24.  Rachel Peck had five kills while Gallois was limited to two kills in limited playing time due to injury.  Karli Hanna added two kills while Julian Sroka had four blocks.
In the final match of the day, Sparta fell to Nashville 25-17, 24-26, and 15-8.
Rachel Peck led the offense with nine kills while Erica Gallois added seven.  Emma Koester added 16 assists while Peck and Julian Sroka combined for seven blocks.
“I really felt better about our effort this weekend even though we came up short in the last two matches,” Gerlach continued.
The current overall record stands at 2-5 for Sparta.