Red Oak wins at Tri-Center Tournament

NEOLA — The Red Oak Tigers volleyball team swept through the competition at the Tri-Center Tournament in Neola Saturday.

Red Oak defeated Adair Casey (2-0), Cumberland Anita Massena (2-0), Tri-Center (2-0), Riverside (2-0), A-H-S-T (2-0) and Glenwood (2-1), to win the tournament title.

Gabi French had double-digit kills in two of Red Oak’s seven matches Saturday. Against Glenwood, French had 12 kills out of 24 attack attempts with 10 digs and was 8-for-8 serving. Against Tri-Center, French had 10 kills out of 18 attack attempts with seven digs.

Adrienne Mahoney also had a big match against Glenwood, leading the Tigers in assists with 17 and serving aces with four.

Last Tuesday, Red Oak lost to the Harlan Cyclones in their last home match of the regular season, 3-0.

“We’ve got to play every game, whether or not it’s our last home game, like it’s our last,” Red Oak Coach Angela Montgomery said. “We had a great postseason run last year and didn’t have a game on our court.”

Both teams battled back-and-forth in the first game, as there were 11 ties during the game.

Red Oak in fact jumped out to an 8-4 lead early thanks to a block and a serving ace by Blomstedt, but soon saw it dwindle to 10-9. The Tigers took the lead once more during game two, but Harlan took the lead late and won the first game 25-21.

The Cyclones set the tone in game two, taking a 12-6 lead, which ballooned to 22-10. Red Oak rallied for five straight points to cut Harlan's lead to 22-15. However, the Cyclones scored three of the next five points and won game two, 25-17.

Harlan jumped out to an early lead, but Red Oak managed to tie the third game twice. The Cyclones scored 11 straight points to take a 18-7 lead. Red Oak scored two points the rest of the way as the Cyclones on game three 25-9.

It was Harlan Head Volleyball Coach Angie Spangenberg’s second time back coaching against Red Oak.

Spangenberg’s Harlan team was also here for the Red Oak Tournament on Sept. 17.

A larger Red Oak crowd was in attendance.

“We did a lot of mental things to get them ready for tonight,” Spangenberg said. “I thought they handled it very well and were a focused group.”

The loss was Red Oak's first non-tournament loss this season and only their fourth overall up to this point.

French had 19 kills out of 31 attack attempts to lead the Tigers. The senior was the only Red Oak player to finish the match with double-digit kills.

Yardas led the Tigers with 13 of the team's 41 digs against Harlan, while Mahoney had 20 assists.

Red Oak had nine total blocks in the match, with Andrea Miller responsible for three of them (one solo).

The Tigers have conference matches on the road this week. Tuesday night, Red Oak heads to Clarinda to take on the Cardinals.

Thursday night, Red Oak heads North to Denison to take on the Monarchs.