Tigers defeat Viqueens for Tri-Center title
NEOLA—Saturday’s Tri-Center volleyball tournament came down to two of the best teams around the area: Red Oak and Stanton.
In the end, Red Oak walked away with the win and the tournament title, defeating Stanton 2-0 in the championship match.
“It was good to see. Every year I’ve been the head coach, we’ve won the tournament and I’m sure it’s been before then too,” Red Oak volleyball coach Angie Montgomery said. “This is a good tournament.”
The Tigers won the first game 28-26 and then won game two 25-15.
Red Oak jumped out to a couple of leads in game one, including 14-10, thanks to a couple of Kate Walker kills.
But Stanton caught up and kept pace, with offensive efforts from Carmen Subbert, Erin DeKay and Chelsea Weis.
“They’re a really good team. We knew we had to take advantage when Carmen was in the back row. I don’t think we did that really well,” Montgomery said. “We had built up a lead for ourselves, but we let it dwindle away.”
The Tigers had a couple of opportunities to end the game sooner, but Stanton kept close.
In the end, a serving ace by Angela Mahoney clinched game one for the Tigers.
In game two Red Oak pulled ahead early and stayed ahead the rest of the game.
“We knew we needed to control that first contact,” Montgomery said.
Walker led the way for the Tigers with 15 kills out of 25 attack attempts, as well as seven digs. Grace Blomstedt had eight kills, as well as three solo blocks for the Tigers and was 9-for-10 on her serves with two aces.
Mahoney had a team-high 10 digs in the final as she also recorded five kills. Blake Bergren, Madison Gilbert and Courtney Billings also recorded kills in the win. Bergren had three, while Billings and Gilbert each finished with two.
Billings was one of two players with double-digit assists, recording 12. Makelti White had a game-high 17 assists in the win.
Subbert led the Viqueens with nine kills and 14 digs. Weis and DeKay each had two kills. Macy Elwood led Stanton in assists, recording 10 of the team’s 15. Ally Focht had three assists.
Both Red Oak and Stanton had two separate paths on their way to the match-up in the finals. The Tigers won all their matches in pool play and didn’t drop a set during that point or in the semifinals versus Glenwood.
Stanton also went undefeated in pool play, but played in two three-game matches, including the semifinals.
The Viqueens had to rally from a first game loss to Tri-Center to reach the finals. They dropped game one 15-25, but rallied late to win two 26-24 and three 15-11 to advance.
Stanton’s other three-game match came during pool play when they defeated Glenwood 21-15, 13-21 and 15-6.
The other pool play wins for Stanton came against A-H-S-T 21-14 and 21-17 and against Adair-Casey 21-12 and 21-9.
Red Oak reached the finals by defeating Glenwood 25-11 and 25-23. The Rams made a late charge in the second game, but the Tigers held them off to keep Glenwood from forcing a game three.
In pool play, Red Oak won all three matches 2-0 against West Monona, Riverside and Tri-Center. The score was 21-16 and 21-9 versus West Monona, 21-9 and 21-9 against Riverside and 21-15 and 21-13 versus Tri-Center.
Red Oak won the Tri-Center tournament title last season.
Red Oak 3, Denison-Schleswig 0
Red Oak scored their lone non-tournament win of the week on the road when they defeated Denison-Schleswig.
The Tigers won the games 25-20, 25-12 and 25-21.
Walker had a big match as she recorded 10 kills out of 26 attack attempts with 16 digs and two serving aces.
Mahoney had nine kills, while Blomstedt finished with six. Blake Bergren and Madison Gilbert each had five kills.
Red Oak had 11 blocks in the match, with Blomstedt responsible for seven, including three solo.
Billings and White both secured 24 of the team’s 34 assists. Billings had 13, while White finished with 11.
Harlan 3, Red Oak 0
Red Oak started the week with a 3-0 loss at home to the No. 1 ranked team in Class 4A Harlan Cyclones.
Harlan won the first game 25-8. The next two games were closer as Red Oak fought back. They lost game two 25-19 and game three 25-22.
Walker finished the match with 10 kills out of 33 attack attempts, as well as eight digs to lead Red Oak.
Mahoney had nine kills, Blomstedt recorded seven and Bergren finished with four.
Billings had 15 assists, while White recorded 11.
Red Oak will be home for both matches this week. It starts Tuesday when they take on Clarinda.
Thursday night will be Pink Out as the Tigers take on St. Albert. T-shirts will be on sale for $10 and there will also be an auction and a costume contest for adults and students.
There will also be a contest between the district schools for the best cancer awareness banner.
Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Montgomery County Relay for Life.