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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's girls volleyball team went out and took care of business at Lucco-Jackson Gym Thursday evening, defeating Belleville East 25-12, 25-14 in a Southwestern Conference match to go to 15-4 overall on the year, 5-0 in the SWC; the Lancers fell to 11-15 overall, 2-3 in the league.
“They were playing some great defense,” Tiger coach Jami Parker said of her team. “They were really flying out there, they took some big swings; we were really working hard. They played hard, they played a great game.
“The girls hit really well tonight; (Megan) Woll came out and played some big defense night in and night out; she's averaging six-plus digs a game right now and that's huge for a libero. It's allowing Rachel (Pranger) to run the offense and that spread it out a little bit among the hitters – it's working well right now.”
That the Tigers are standing at 5-0 in the league with two matches to go is something that Edwardsville can focus on following a big SWC win Tuesday at O'Fallon, Parker felt. “It's key,” Parker said of where the Tigers stand at the moment in the SWC. “You've got to win them all; (Belleville) West has only lost one, O'Fallon has only lost one, so we've got to win out here if we're going to win the conference.
“This conference, night in and night out, you've just got to play. The girls came out tonight and it's a tough thing to do coming off a big O'Fallon match and knowing they're leaving at 6 tomorrow morning for Chicago, and they did. They took care of business and it was a good effort on their part tonight.”
Edwardsville came out of the gates quickly in Game 1, grabbing a 5-0 lead early and never really allowing the Lancers to get into the game; East came as close as two points to the Tigers, but each time East got close, Edwardsville had the answers and eventually pulled away for the win. Game 2 started out closer, the Lancers small leads a couple of times before EHS shook them off and pulled away thanks to a 13-of-14-point run that put the Tigers 21-12 before East scored twice and Edwardsville scoring the final four points of the match for the sweep.
Rachel Verdun had 18 points on serve while while Pranger and Alexa Harris had six points each; Verdun had six aces and Harris three on the night. Kate Martin led the Tigers with eight kills, with Pranger and Maria Smith adding three each, Verdun 13 assists and Woll 13 digs and Verdun eight digs.
The Tigers are in suburban Chicago for the Mizuno Tournament this weekend; EHS takes on Addison Trail at 6:15 p.m. and Geneva at 7:30 p.m. today, with the tournament concluding Saturday.
“It's a great tournament,” Parker said. “It'll be a good experience for us; we'll get to see some teams that we would otherwise never see and play against."
