Mount Ayr volleyball rolls to Bedford Tourney title

BEDFORD — Mount Ayr’s volleyball team chalked up another goal they’d set for the season Saturday at the Bedford Tournament.

The Raiderettes went a perfect 5-0 and lost only one set in winning the title.

Mount Ayr swept Bedford, Lamoni and Murray 2-0 in pool play. The Raiderettes were pushed to three sets by Stanton before winning 15-7 in the third.

Mount Ayr then went on take the title match from Central Decatur. The Raiderettes cruised in the first set, winning 25-12, then held on for a 28-26 win on the second.

“One of our goals was to get the Bedford Tournament,” said Mount Ayr coach Tori Braby. “We have two goals left. We want to win the conference and we want to get to state. It’s nice to see the girls accomplishing their goals they set this year.”

The Raiderettes dominated most areas throughout the day in overwhelming their competition.

“There really wasn’t any downfalls, maybe a little on serve receive, but all together, our girls were pretty determined,” Braby said.

The passing allowed hitters Kelcie Shields, Keirston Klommhaus and company to pound home kills.

“If you can’t pass, you can’t do anything,” Braby said. “All three worked together. That’s how we got the wins.”

Shields pounded home 59 kills to lead the Raiderettes. Keirston Klommhaus had 19 kills. Alyssa Johnson dished out 61 assists. Macy Larsen had 30 assists.

East Union went 2-2 on the day. The Eagles beat Central Decatur in pool play before losing to East Mills and Stanton. The Eagles topped Murray in three for seventh.

Murray went 0-4 on the day. The Mustangs did push Bedford and East Union to three set, but came up short both times.

Southwest Valley

tournament

The host Southwest Valley Timberwolves advanced out of pool play in its seven-team tournament Saturday but fell to Essex in two sets to end a 3-2 day.

Southwest Valley went 3-1 in pool play with victories over CAM in two, Panorama in three and Lenox in three. The Timberwolves lost to E-EHK in three.

“I was pleased with how the tournament went for my team. It was a much better outing for us than at our last tourney at Griswold,” Southwest Valley coach Lindsay Wetzel said. “We played a tough match with Essex in semifinals and didn’t quite come out on top because of too many unforced errors on our side of the net. Going 3-1 in pool play was great because we were in control of our fate instead of leaving it in the hands of another team.”

The Lenox Tigers advanced out of pool play with a 1-3 performance that included a two-set win over Panorama, but fell to eventual tournament champs Audubon in the semifinals to earn their fourth team loss.

The Tigers had a good showing against Panorama with a 2-0 win in close wins of 21-18 and 22-20. In the rest of the matches, Lenox won a set against Southwest Valley but did not take a set otherwise the rest of the day.