'Hawks beat Eagles for 2A State berth

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

OSWEGO -- Jayhawk-Linn defeated Uniontown two games to one in the final of the Oswego Class 2A Sub-State Volleyball Tournament here Saturday.

It was the third meeting of the season between the top-seeded Eagles (27-10) and second-seeded Jayhawks. Jayhawk-Linn won each time but it always took three games to do so.

The Jayhawks (28-11) will be seeded fifth at the Class 2A State Tournament at Emporia. Friday is pool play with J-Linn scheduled to play at 11 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. if they finish first or second in the pool, the 'Hawks will advance to Saturday's semifinals.

(Complete State schedule at the end of this atricle).

Jayhawk-Linn defeated Uniontown in the final Saturday, 23-25, 25-21, 26-24. No statistics were available for the Jayhawks.

Uniontown's Ashley Nietfeld had 14 kills in the match while Hayden Rathbun had 6. Tayler Shook handed out 24 assists.

"What a match it was!" Uniontown head coach Jackie Hall exclaimed. "We certainly had opportunities in the match to finish but fell short. We struggled putting the ball away. We had a lot of hits but not the terminating ones we needed to gain a point.

Give credit to Jayhawk-Linn and their defense. They covered the floor well. We made defensive adjustments to shut down Emma Hargrove out of the middle. We ran a triple and double block that worked. But then she went to tipping around the block and we didn't always get a clean play off that."

The day began with Uniontown defeating eighth-seeded Marmaton Valley, 25-12, 25-13. Nietfeld had 9 kills and Rathbun had 8. Shook dealt 23 assists.

Next, fourth-seeded Howard-West Elk beat No. 5 Sedan, 25-19, 25-11. Then Jayhawk-Linn ended rival Pleasanton's season at 13-20 with a 25-20, 25-14 sweep. The last first-round match had No. 3 Oswego sweeping Northeast, 25-8, 25-17.

Uniontown defeated West Elk (20-14) in the first semifinal, 25-23, 21-25, 26-24. Rathbun had 12 kills, Nietfeld 8 and Hannah Travis 7. Shook recorded 31 assists.

Jayhawk-Linn beat Oswego (22-14) in the other semifinal, 25-18, 25-15.

Pool play at the State Tournament begins at 10 a.m. Friday morning.


2A STATE

at White Auditorium,

Emporia State University

POOL I

Washington County (1: 35-5)

Pratt-Skyline (4: 29-9)

Jayhawk-Linn (5: 28-11)

Ness City (8: 18-17)

Friday's Matches

Washington County vs. Ness City, 10 a.m.

Pratt-Skyline vs. Jayhawk-Linn, 11 a.m.

Jayhawk-Linn vs. Washington County, Noon

Pratt-Skyline vs. Ness City, 1 p.m.

Jayhawk-Linn vs. Ness City, 2 p.m.

Washington County vs. Pratt-Skyline, 3 p.m.

POOL II

Smith Center (2: 34-7)

Olpe (3: 29-6)

Alma-Wabaunsee (6: 24-15)

Oskaloosa (7: 25-17)

Friday's Matches

Smith Center vs. Oskaloosa, 10 a.m.

Olpe vs. Alma-Wabaunsee, 11 a.m.

Smith Center vs. Alma-Wabaunsee, Noon

Olpe vs. Oskaloosa, 1 p.m.

Alma-Wabaunsee vs. Oskaloosa, 2 p.m.

Smith Center vs. Olpe, 3 p.m.

Saturday's Matches

Pool II runner-up vs. Pool I winner, 10 a.m.

Pool I runner-up vs. Pool II winner, 10 a.m.

Third-place match, 15 minutes following conclusion of semifinals

Championship, 15 minutes following conclusion of semifinals