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WOOD RIVER – The girls' volleyball team at Jersey Community High School defeated a familiar foe on Saturday in the final of the Marquette-Wood River tournament, winning over Marquette Catholic in their third meeting of the early season 25-16, 21-25, 25-20 at EAWR Memorial Gym.
It was the two teams’ second meeting of the week, with the Explorers having won a thrilling three-set decision over the Panthers on Wednesday after Jersey had won in their first meeting at the season-opening Lady Shell tournament in Roxana.
The Panthers in the decisive third set off on a 9-0 run with two kills from Chloe White and two aces from Sally Hudson, but Marquette rallied from 11-2 down to get within 14-12, but Jersey went on a four-point service run that made the score 19-12, with three aces from Sydney Gillis. In all, the Panthers had seven service aces in the final set after having only two in the opening two sets.
The Explorers did manage to come to within 20-19 in the final set, but could not get any closer, as the Panthers scored five of the set’s final six points to come out on top 25-20 to take the match and the championship.
White led Jersey with nine kills on the day, while Abby Manns had eight kills and Boston Talley had six. Kari Krueger, a freshman, stepped in for the injured Lauren Brown, and contributed five kills. Emma Menke led the Explorers with eight kills, while Kristine Lauritzen had six.
The Panthers defeated Springfield Lanphier and co-host EAWR to get to the final, while Marquette won over Bunker Hill and Trenton Wesclin to set up their third meeting of the season.
The Panthers are now 10-1 to open the season, and will try to match their best-ever start in at Piasa Southwestern on Monday evening, then open Mississippi Valley Conference play with a pair of home matches at Havens Gym, Tuesday against Waterloo, and Thursday against Mascoutah.
The Explorers fell to 9-4 on the season, and host Granite City on Monday evening before going to Madison for a Prairie State Conference match on Tuesday, then host Bunker Hill on Wednesday.
Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.
