Lennox falls to Pierre

On Saturday, Oct. 11 the Lennox High School Oriole volleyball team hosted Class AA Pierre Governors in an afternoon match. Set one started out with Mallorie Bittner getting a kill out of the middle to earn the first point of the game and then the set progressed with back-and-forth scoring. The Lady Govs took a small lead, the Lady O’s battled back and took a slight lead. After that the score was tied numerous times, the last being 23-23, however Pierre managed to win the first set 25-23. 

“We started out really sluggish today. The girls just weren’t able to get their rhythm going and it showed with very uncharacteristic mistakes. Even after the first set loss, I felt confident the girls would come back strong and get out of their funk,” said LHS head coach Vanessa Gabel.  

The second set was very tight in the beginning but then the Lady O’s took charge and got a solid lead, winning set two 25-20. Set three started off with some shaky serve receive. 

“Catie Sherard was really working hard to get to the passes and put up some sets for our front row attackers. We just couldn’t get things to fall our way and struggled still in the third set,” said Gabel. 

Lennox lost set three 22-25. 

“In set four, Catie and Mallorie had some nice setter-hitter connections but we just couldn’t get enough passes going our way in the beginning of the last set. We ended up digging a pretty deep hole to need to climb out of to get that opportunity to keep the match going. We were down 9-17 and things were looking pretty grim. Certainly the girls could have just given up and moved on but they didn’t. They pushed and pushed, the passes started being more consistent and a really bright point is when Libby Kranz really turned on her attacking. Pierre just didn’t have an answer for her,” Gabel added. 

Lennox closed the distance towards the end, but it just wasn’t enough. 

“We just ran out of runway. Once an opponent gets up in the 20s, you just can’t have any errors and that’s tough when you know you need to be aggressive to earn points,” Gabel said. 

The Orioles lost set four 19-25, losing the match, 3-1.   

“We all enjoyed having an undefeated record for so much of the season but in the back of my mind having the girls not being pushed and tested was worrying me. I think a positive aspect of this match is learning that we are beatable and if we don’t show up to play, we can’t beat solid teams. It’s important to lose in sports. It lets athletes learn who the are, how to handle stressful situations and what they can do when they’re up against the wall,” said Gabel. 

Against Pierre, Kranz had 19 kills, 12 digs and two aces. Bittner finished with nine kills and three blocks.  Sherard added 22 assists and had two aces and Andie Peters finished with 17 digs. 

Lennox will compete in the DAK XII tournament on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Elk Point Jefferson. They will be at Sioux Falls Lutheran on Monday, Oct. 20 and at McCook Central/Montrose on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Their next home match is slated for Friday, Oct. 24 when they take on Baltic.