EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville girls volleyball team, already playing without Emma Garner after an injury in practice, lost Storm Suhre to a leg injury during the third set, but got key contributions from sophomore Ava Waltenberger and freshman Sydney Davis as the Tigers rallied from a set down to defeat Belleville East 22-25, 25-9, 25-18 in a Southwestern Conference match Tuesday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
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The firs set was very close, with the Lancers opening up a 14-11 lead before the Tigers rallied to come back to a 14-14 tie, climaxed by a Gabby Saye kill. With the score 20-20, East came back to take five of the set's last seven points, including a big ace from Cami Augustine to take the first set 25-22.
Edwardsville allied in the second set as the Tigers went ahead 14-4, thanks to the efforts of Davis, then extended the lead to 23-5 after an Alexa Harris kill and a pair of kills from Suhre, going on to the 25-9 win.
In the final set, Suhre limped off with a leg injury on a kill by Augustine that made the score 13-12, but both Davis and Waltenberger came through with clutch performances, especially after the Lancers came back to tie the set at 17-17, forcing a Tiger time out.
As play resumed, Rihanna Huebner served up five straight points, including a block from both Davis and Waltenberger, then scored the final points off of kills from Waltenberger and Saye to clinch the 25-18 win and the match.
Harris led the way for Edwardsville with 14 kills and 10 digs, while Saye had 10 kills and three blocks, Huebner served up 12 points to go along with six kills, Suhre had four blocks, Davis had four kills and a block in her varsity debut, Lexie Griffin had 20 assists and Morgan Tulacro had 10 assists.
The Tigers stay undefeated at 3-0 and host Belleville West tonight, then go to Alton on Thursday and to East St. Louis next Tuesday. The Lancers dropped to 2-2 on the year.
