Wolverines finish third at Colfax-Mingo

The Nodaway Valley/OM volleyball team captured a third-place finish Saturday, taking a 3-2 finish away from the Colfax-Mingo tournament.

The Wolverines had 2-0 wins over GMG Garwin (21-14, 21-18) and Baxter (21-13, 21-15) a win over Iowa Valley, Marengo was by a 2-1 margin (19-21, 21-11, 15-6). Losses were 2-0 to Colfax Mingo (21-16, 21-11) and Coon Rapids-Bayard (21-12, 21-13).

Taylor Laughery and Emma Boswell scored three kills each against GMG while Addi Herr and Kylie Nelson had two apiece. Mattie Thompson set it up with nine assists. Laughery and Emma Boswell each had a solo block. Thompson and Caroline Britten served two aces apiece. Herr and senior Izzy Eisbach had four digs each.

Playing Colfax-Mingo next, the Wolverines adjusted well as the match continued but they couldn’t finish.

NV/OM fended off runs by Baxter in the first and second sets of that match to come out on top. They totaled a dozen kills, including three each from Nelson, Laughery and Boswell, two from Eisbach and one from Herr. Thompson finished with 11 set assists. Eisbach led with two blocks. Eisbach, Herr and Nelson had two aces each while Mallory Russell and Laughery had one each. Cornelison had eight digs.

After a loss to Coon Rapids-Bayard, who Wolverine coach Allie Kiburz said had powerful hitters, the Wolverines faced Iowa Valley.

“Iowa Valley originally earned second place in the opposite pool. We started out coming back from behind to win the first set. We hit a wall during the second set and ended up losing, but we showed some real grit and intensity to finish with a game-winning set at the end,” Kiburz said. “Mallory Russell served 15 serves in bounds which was key to our win. Emma and Kylie didn’t back down from putting passes away this set. Allie and Izzy were able to anchor our defense with key digs.”

Thompson was team MVP.

The Wolverines were 3-3 coming into this week’s action.