Viqueens take third at corner conference tournament

The Stanton Viqueens finished in third place last week in the annual Corner Conference Tournament. 

Seeded fourth, Stanton opened the tournament with a solid 3-1 win over East Mills. 

East Mills opened the match with a 26-24 win in the first set, but Stanton bounced back to win the next two sets 25-21 and 25-20 before closing out the match with a 25-18 win. 

Chelsea Weis had one of her best matches of the season with a team-high 20 kills on offense and 16 digs on defense while completing 20 of 21 serves with three aces. Jody Vanderholm was 19 of 20 from the serving line and added four blocks. 

Nicole Graham and Ally Focht each led the team with 21 assists while Focht added 12 kills and six digs. 

In the semifinals, Stanton lost 3-0 to eventual champion Sidney. 

Despite losing in straight sets, Stanton battled early, dropping the first two sets 25-20 and 25-21 before losing the third 25-14. 

Weis had 11 kills and 18 digs while Focht finished with 15 assists, eight digs, six kills and three blocks. Devin Druivenga added 15 digs in the loss. 

Stanton bounced back from that loss to win the consolation match Thursday night, 3-2 over Essex.

After Stanton won a close one in the first set, 25-23, the Viqueens cruised in the second, beating Essex 25-9. 

The Trojans rebounded though to win the third and fourth sets 25-15 and 25-20, but Stanton rallied in the fifth to win the match 15-12. 

Focht posted a triple-double in the win with 28 assists, 15 kills and 13 digs. She also led a potent Stanton serving attack at a 23 of 24 clip, including six aces. As a team, Stanton successfully served 99 out of 100 attempts with 17 aces. 

Stanton will finish out its regular season at home with matches Tuesday against Clarinda Academy, Thursday against Sidney and Oct. 20 against Lenox.