Blue Jays score early season wins against Griswold, Corning

CLARINDA — The Villisca Blue Jays lost four of their five matches at the Clarinda Volleyball Tournament Saturday at Clarinda High School.

Their lone win was against East Mills, 2-0.  Villisca handily took the first game 25-7 and won the second 25-14.

Mikayla Dolch and Amanda Focht led the Blue Jays in kills with six each. Morganne Haer had 12 assists and Jill Vanderhoof finished with six digs.

Villisca lost twice to Nishnabotna, including a 2-1 loss in their last match. The Blue Jays took the first game 25-19, but lost the next two 25-22 and 25-9.

Vanderhoof led the way for Villisca, finishing with 10 kills and recording five aces at the service line. Bree Ann Fisher had 12 digs, while Haer recorded 18 assists.

The other loss to Nishnabotna was 21-15 and 21-18.

Villisca also lost to Clarinda (21-10, 21-9) and Treynor (21-10, 21-9).

The Blue Jays opened the 2012 season by defeating the Griswold Tigers, 3-0, at Blackout Night in Griswold.

Villisca battled back and forth early with Griswold in the first game, but rallied to win 25-13. In game two, the Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Villisca recovered and overtook the lead, scoring 16 of the next 21 points. Griswold gave it one more push to avoid going down 0-2, but Villisca prevailed winning 25-17.

The Blue Jays jumped out to an early lead in the third game, thanks to serves by Bree Ann Fisher. Villisca's lead increased and at one point they led Griswold, 20-9.

Griswold was persistent in the third game as they closed the gap to 24-20. Villisca halted the rally thanks to a kill attempt by Vanderhoof.

Vanderhoof and Focht both had big matches against the Tigers.

Vanderhoof led the way with 10 kills out of 18 attempts. Focht meanwhile had six blocks (five solo), as well as seven digs, tying her for the most with Haer, Casaundra Currin and Bree Ann Fisher.

Fisher was Villisca's top server in the Griswold win as she recorded six aces.