ROSALIA – For the Altoona-Midway High School volleyball team, there were some bright spots
here Saturday – but not nearly enough – and as a result the Lady Jets dropped all three of their
matches in the Flinthills Tournament.
Altoona-Midway was unable to capture a set in any its three outings. The Jets lost their opening
match to the host Mustangs 25-6, 25-2. AMHS then fell to Hartford 25-11, 25-10, and closed out
the day dropping a 25-10, 25-8 decision against Chase County.
“We didn't start the tournament out strong,” said AMHS head coach Michelle Stackhouse. “Our match against Flinthills was a very disappointing loss. We didn't play to the best ability and unfortunately, it showed.
“But in our second match against Hartford we improved,” Stackhouse added. “We started out
strong and we were really hustling. But when they got ahead we started to fall apart and
second-guess ourselves. We need to work on having individual confidence and confidence in
our team. Those are both very difficult things to concur, but we will be doing our best to
overcome these obstacles.
“We had our final match against Chase County, and we improved from the start of these games
as well,” the coach continued. “We were moving our feet and getting to our spots and really
leaving it all on the court. We just didn't have enough to take the win.”
Emmalynn Pupanek led the Lady Jets with 10 kills, 73 digs, three blocks and six serves.
“Emmalynn hustled and played her heart out this weekend,” Stackhouse noted. “She once again was our leader in stats and she continues to impress me with her natural talent and patience.” Summer Raymond chipped in with 43 sets, 35 digs, and four serves, while Chloe Stewart had 48 digs, seven serves and two kills. Jyl Davis connected on nine serves, one of them an ace, and Chantal Morales recorded 29 digs and 12 serves, including an ace.
“I am proud of how we seemed to improve with each game this weekend,” Stackhouse said.
“Our time will come when we can put everything that we have been practicing so hard for all
together and come home with another win.” AMHS (1-8) was scheduled to action Tuesday, Sept. 12, with a quadrangular at Uniontown.