Tigers swept in home opener

Fort Scott High School's volleyball team played its first home matches of the season Tuesday evening and were beaten by Chanute in a non-league match between Southeast Kansas League rivals and by Pittsburg St. Mary's-Colgan in three sets in the other match.

Chanute swept the Tigers 25-15, 25-14. Jillian Lattimer had three kills and two blocks while Ericah Shoemaker had two blocks.

"Chanute is a very talented team, great group of well rounded athletes," Fort Scott head coach Carol Bingesser said. "I felt we were overwhelmed at first with Chanute. Their size, hitting ability was mind boggling. But when we settled down and started to get our hands on some of their hits, then we relaxed and started to realize we could play with this team. We had worked hard on improving our blocking in practice and it finally clicked to our front row, which enabled our defense to get in the right spot so we were actually able to pick balls up. We were able to get five stuff blocks against Chanute and had our hands on tons of other balls."

The Tigers (1-4) won the first set against Colgan 25-17 before the Panthers took the next two 25-22, 27-25. Shoemaker and Sidney Maycumber each had 11 kills in the match. Meredith Hill handed out 15 assists while Maddi Allen had 10. Jillian Lattimer recorded five blocks and Paige Denton picked up 12 digs.

"I was disappointed in our loss to Colgan, " Bingesser said. "We need to learn to finish. We will struggle winning matches this season until we learn to play from point 1 to point 25. Volleyball is such a game of momentum and it can change in a heartbeat, but you still need to stay mentally tough and ready at all the times, not just for short stretches. We have the physical ability to compete with any team but volleyball is a mental game and if you can't be mentally focused, your physical ability won't be a factor."

Fort Scott plays today at LaCygne against Prairie View and former SEK foe Iola. The Tigers' next outing after that is at the FSHS gymnasium Sept. 6 against Wellsville and Paola.