Sparta over Chester 25-17, 25-18
In the last River-to-River conference match between the two Randolph County schools, Sparta cruised past Chester Thursday night 25-17, 25-18.
The Lady Bulldogs utilized 13 kills from Erica Gallois and another nine kills from Rachel Peck to sting the Lady Jackets on Chester’s senior night.  Emma Koester added 21 assists. 
The team graded out at 2.33 passing which allowed the hitting attack to operate to the tune of 27 kills with only three errors out of the 71 attacks.
“It is very nice to close out the year on a win.  We need to tighten up a bit on the closing of games, but overall I’m very pleased with how we have played of late,” said Sparta coach Roger Gerlach.
Sparta took the early lead in set one going up 4-2 on a Gallois block of a tip at the net.  Chester pulled to within 5-4, but that was as close as they would get with Sparta opening to an 18-11 lead on another Gallois block followed with an ace serve. 
Sparta jumped out to another early lead in set two and never looked back as they opened with the biggest lead of the night at 14-5 before four unanswered Jacket points brought it back to 14-9.  Sparta pulled away to a 20-12 lead then closed the door on the regular season with a 25-18 score to win the match.
Chester was led by Tiffani Marshall (four kills and four blocks), Devon Hecht (four kills and seven blocks), and Jamie Chambers (six assists).
Chester finishes the regular season with record of 10-21 overall and 1-9 in the conference.
 With the win the Lady Bulldogs finish the regular season at 21-8 and finished second in the River-to-River Conference with an 8-2 record. They now prepare for the Red Bud Regional next Thursday where they will take on Waterloo Gibault in a 6:30 p.m. match.  A win on Thursday will put them in the championship match on Saturday.  
The Lady Jackets finished their regular season with record of 10-21 overall and 1-9 in the conference.