Lennox remains undefeated after wins over MVP and WC
- Lennox Independent Staff
- Oct 1
- 3 min read
Continuing their winning streak last week, the Lennox High School volleyball team improved to 17-0 placing them second in Class A, right behind Dakota Valley who as of Monday, Sept. 29 had a 15-1 record.
The Orioles continued their winning ways last Tuesday, Sept. 23 when they made the long drive to Mount Vernon-Plankinton. The first set of the night was dominated by the Oriole offense putting away set after set and easily winning 25-15. MVP started to play a tougher defense going into set two and pushed the Orioles a bit more but the Orioles still won the set 25-19.
“I was really impressed with MVP’s defense. They kept getting up our hits, some really good hits, making us really work for our points, especially in the third set,” said LHS head coach Vanessa Gabel.
Lennox went on to win the third set with a 25-22 win.
“Addison Martz had a fantastic hitting night for us. She put away some spectacular hits from the right side of the net,” added Gabel. “Primary serve receive passers, Andie Peters and Libby Kranz put up a lot of solid passes, giving our setters lots of options when setting up the offense.”
Statistic leaders of the night were Addison Martz with ten kills and Libby Kranz with eight kills and three aces. Mallorie Bittner got two blocks on the night. Catie Sherard put up 17 set assists, while Andie Peters led the defense with 21 digs.
On Thursday night, Sept. 25 Lennox hosted West Central, the first home match they’ve had since the first week of season competition back in early September.
“It sure was nice to be at home and able to play in front of a huge Lennox crowd. They really had the place rocking,” said Gabel.
The two teams had just met up the weekend before in the championship round at the Bon Homme tournament, where the Lady O’s beat the Trojans for a first-place finish. Thursday’s match was competitive, with the lead going back and forth all night. Lennox struggled with quality serve receive in the first set, making them work harder for the points they earned. At game point of the first set, after a long rally, Rylee Hedin killed a set from Catie Sherard and ended the set with a 25-19 win.
Although serve receive got noticeably better in the second set, the score was tight back and forth. Sydney Johnson took charge of the net with a few impressive kill blocks to get the momentum going in the right direction. The Orioles eventually pulled away to take the second set 25-21. The third set started strong for the Lady O’s who never looked back. Libby Kranz had a run at the service line of tough serves and aces. Ultimately, a kill block from Jersie Hostetler at the net put away the set 25-18.
“We had a really strong hitting performance from multiple attackers. Addison Martz had a fantastic night at the net, with 11 kills from 20 sets but then Libby Kranz had 11 kills and no errors with only 16 sets and ended up hitting at a 0.688. Those numbers are right up there with the top hitters in the state,” said Gabel.
Statistic leaders for the night were Kranz and Martz with 11 kills each, Johnson with five blocks, Hannah Adney had 20 set assists, Andie Peters with 16 digs and Kranz with four aces.
“We haven’t been truly challenged yet, only dropping two sets total so far this season. The challenge is coming this week when we take on Dell Rapids. Our conference and region are so tough and we haven’t played Dakota Valley or Sioux Falls Christian yet either. Don’t get me wrong, having a record of 17-0 is fantastic but there are key teams we are going to have to get past for a trip back to state this fall. I have no doubt this group of girls can do it but we’ll just need to keep to the game plan and take one match at a time and stay focused on what’s right in front of us,” Gabel said.
The Orioles defeated Tea Area on Monday, Sept. 29, 3-0, and will travel to Beresford on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Lennox will travel to Dell Rapids on Thursday, Oct. 2 and host Pierre T.F. Riggs on Saturday, Oct. 11 for a 2:30 p.m. match-up.