Patrons of Columbus High School’s pool of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference volleyball tournament got their money’s worth in matches last night.
The pool included the top seeded Pekin Panthers (15-3) , the Highland Huskies (14-6), the Iowa Mennonite School (6-11), the Danville Bears (6-16), and the Columbus Wildcats (6-18). The teams are listed in the order of their seeding.
The pool saw several three-set matches but when the dust settled, the first seeded Panthers and the second seeded Huskies advanced to Saturday’s tournament championship.
The road to an unblemished pool didn’t come easy for the Panthers. Pekin found themselves in three-set matches versus the fifth seeded Wildcats in round two and against the Huskies in round four. After dropping the first game of either match, the Panthers went on to take each match. They defeated Columbus (19-21, 21-9, 15-5) and Highland (20-22, 21-14, 15-13).
Three of Highland’s four matches in pool play went the distance. The Huskies dropped the first set in victories over third seeded IMS (16-21, 21-13, 15-12) in round one and versus fourth seeded Danville (14-21, 21-11, 15-5). The opposite result happened in round four against Pekin, winning game one (22-20) then dropping the final two games (13-21,12-15).
The final spot in the championship bracket came down to the final match of the night when Highland faced the Columbus Wildcats. Columbus earned victories over IMS (21-19, 11-21, 15-13) in round three and Danville (21-19, 21-18) to set up a winner takes all scenario for the final spot in the championship bracket. Highland finished pool play strong, sweeping that Wildcats (21-14, 21-3) in round five.
Huskies head volleyball coach Chris Rath was proud of how her team finished pool play. “We have been killing them all week long in practice and telling them this was going to be a long night.” Rath said, “I was proud of them to finish this match (Columbus) the way they did and I was so proud of them for the way they came back against Pekin. We were going three matches every game and I was glad to finally finish one in two.”
Senior Brianna Davis had a team high 16 kills and contributed 24 assists on the evening. Junior Kelsey Hora led the Huskies defensively with 40 kills
Pekin will meet West Burlington, the runner up in pool three, in the first round of the championship bracket Saturday. Highland is set to face the New London Tigers, the pool three champions, in the first round. The championship of the volleyball tournament will be held at Southeastern Community College in Burlington Saturday at 5 p.m.
The Columbus Wildcats and the Iowa Mennonite School advanced to the consolation bracket of the tournament, which will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. at Lone Tree High School. Columbus will square off against the WACO Warriors, the fourth place finisher in pool three. IMS is set to face Winfield-Mount Union, the third place finisher in pool three.