'Hounds win in four

Fort Scott Community College's volleyball team 6 of the last 7 points of the fourth set Wednesday night and held off Allen County's bid to extend a Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division match to a fifth game at Arnold Arena.

Jessica Cook's kill in the back right corner of the court broke a 25-25 tie and gave serve back to the Greyhounds. Allen County's error on the next serve gave FSCC the match 12-25, 25-12, 25-20, 27-25.

"It feels absolutely amazing," FSCC head coach Sonya Petroski said. "The girls are really excited and this is a really huge win for us."

It's the first time Fort Scott has beaten a conference opponent other than Independence or Labette since beating Allen County in five games back in September of 2006.

Fort Scott jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set. Allen County rallied to get within 14-13 but the 'Hounds put the lead back at five, 18-13, after Katie Van Lue's block fell on the Red Devils' side of the net.

Allen County scored 8 of the next 9 to take a 21-19 lead. The 'Hounds trailed 24-21 when an Devil error gave serve back to FSCC.

"At that point, everyone was looking at me saying, 'What do we do?'" Petroski said. "And I told them to go out there and just play. Don't worry about the score, just play. And they did that. They went out there, did their job and were bound and determined not to let Allen win. They wanted to win this match in four. They didn't want to push it to five and they did everything in their power to win it in four."

Allen (1-3 East, 6-9 overall) was in total control of the first set, jumping out to a 17-4 lead. Unforced errors and poor passing doomed the 'Hounds in that set.

But the Greyhounds came out ready to go in the second set and went out to a 10-3 lead. It appeared as Van Lue got on track, the other players began to follow her lead. Eventually, everyone started making plays.

"I was glad to see Katie stepped it up and I feel like she brings a great energy to the team on the court," Petroski said. "And once she gets her energy going, everyone builds off of it."

Eventually, the 'Hounds extended the lead to 20-9 and the Red Devils couldn't get back into that set.

The third set started similarly with Fort Scott going out to a 10-4 lead. This time, Allen was able to rally and take a 16-15 lead.

A Van Lue kill and an Allen error put the 'Hounds up one. Although the Devils tied it two more times, they never led again. A Racheal Wilmes kill broke a 20-20 tie and the 'Hounds served out the set.

Van Lue finished the night with 15 kills and 7 blocks while Wilmes was credited with 8 kills and 4 blocks. Tanessa Esry dished 15 assists.

The 'Hounds will host Longview (Mo.) in a non-conference match at 6:30 p.m. Monday night.