Sparta over Pinckneyville 25-14, 25-19
The Sparta Lady Bulldogs claimed their 20th win of the season Tuesday on senior night with win over Pinckneyville in a two set match, 25-14, 25-19.
On a night that honored five seniors Erica Gallois, Emma Koester, Rachel Peck, Clarissa Richno and Kelsey Stefan, Sparta paved the way for the victory with solid passing and a near perfect hitting night.  The team passing graded out at 2.02 while the Bulldogs only had 4 hitting errors out of 59 attacks.  
Gallois and  Peck led the offense with 12 and nine kills respectively, while Emma Koester added 19 assists for a season total of 515.
“We did a nice job of keeping the ball in play,” said Sparta coach Roger Gerlach.  “We played them a week ago and had 17 hitting errors, so we really focused on the need to put the ball in play somewhere somehow.”
Sparta started off slowly in set one as both teams traded points up to the 4-4 mark, when nine consecutive Richno service points pulled the Bulldogs away for a 13-5 lead on the side out and they never looked back coasting to the 25-14 first set win.  
In set two, again it was close going early with a mid to late surge that put the Bulldogs in the driver seat as four consecutive Koester serves gave the Lady Bulldogs an early cushion to play with and maintained to the finish winning 25-19.
“I’m very proud of this group of girls, the way they responded to the rough start we had at the beginning of the year,” added Gerlach.  To have started out 2-6 and finish with the 20 wins is a very good turnaround.  That’s 18-2 over the last 20 matches.  These seniors are to be commended for righting the ship when we were taking on water early. They will be sorely missed not only for there volleyball talent but also for there off court leadership around the school.”