EDNA – It was a great evening of volleyball for the Altoona-Midway Middle School squad as they won two of three matches in the Edna Quadrangular here Thursday afternoon.
“What an exciting night,” exclaimed AMMS head coach Marci Henderson. “I’m so incredibly proud of these girls. Even when they would get behind they kept fighting to come out on top.”
And rally behind they did, as the Lady Jets dropped the first set in each of their two match victories.
In the opening match, AMMS came from behind to defeat Chetopa 19-25, 25-23 and 15-13. In the nightcap, the Lady Jets also rallied to take the measure of host Edna 11-25, 25-22, 15-5.
In between those thrilling victories, the Lady Jets fell to Thayer for the second time in a week, 16-25, 16-25.
Emma Martin led Altoona-Midway in all three offensive categories against Chetopa, finishing with 17 serves, 10 passes and 16 hits.
Makayla Wood and Heather Lane added eight and seven serves, respectively, with Wood notching 13 hits and Lane nine. Alaura Maple recorded seven passes while Summer Raymond chipped in with five serves, six passes and seven hits.
“The girls started the first set against Chetopa clicking but let them get back in the game with some bad passes,” Henderson said. “In set 2 the girls brought it and left it all on the court to take it to set 3 – which was a nail biter all the way. I started calling Summer Raymond “Ice Man” because she got the last three serves to win the game.”
In the loss to Thayer, Maple connected on eight serves and Martin on seven; Wood recorded eight hits while Martin, Maple and Lane added six apiece; and Raymond chalked up 10 passes.
“Against Thayer, the girls had trouble stopping a couple of serves and we sort of fell apart,” Henderson noted. “Then I gave the normal starters the first set off against Edna and played the junior varsity. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they handled a varsity match.”
Rested up and ready to go, the regular starters returned and took it to Edna in the final two sets.
“Emma went on a seven serve streak. Heather got three aces, Makayla had a awesome dig, and Summer ‘Ice Man’ Raymond stepped up to seal the set in serves,” Henderson smiled. “Set 3 was a breeze. Makayla Wood got us up early with six serves. Emma added a couple of hits at the net and Alaura and Heather finished strong with their serves. It was a great night and the girls are pumped!”
AMMS (2-2) will travel to Parsons on Monday to compete in the St. Pat’s triangular.