Tiger volleyball fourth at Pittsburg tourney

PITTSBURG -- Fort Scott High School's volleyball team finished in fourth place at the Pittsburg Invitational over the weekend, going 2-3.

"We played as whole very well all day," Fort Scott head coach Carol Bingesser said. "Mallory (Shelton) ended the day with a total of 70 kills which was outstanding.

"I was very proud of the girls we only had one match in which we struggled with and that was with Pittsburg. Our passer struggled with a couple of their servers and we had a hard time passing off them. Other than that one match we played well all day. Kept our intensity level up. All of the girls did their jobs ,which was great. The team is really starting to gel which makes for a fun day."

The Tigers (8-9) began the day with a 25-18, 25-10 sweep of Iola. Mallory Shelton had 9 kills in the match. Maddi Allen dished 7 assists and Paige Denton came up with 6 digs.

Fort Scott faced Nevada in the second match and lost in three games, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20. Shelton had 21 kills while Sidney Maycumber had 6. Allen and Kenzie Heatherly handed out 11 assists each and Denton finished with 15 digs.

The Tigers then defeated Labette County to wrap up pool play, 27-25, 25-22. Shelton recoded 15 kills and 4 blocks. Heatherly had 21 assists and Denton finished with 9 digs.

The Tigers faced Pittsburg in the semifinal match but fell to the host Purple Dragons, 25-20, 25-15. Shelton had 10 kills, Heatherly 9 assists and Denton 7 digs.

Fort Scott had a rematch with Nevada in the third-place match but lost again, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23. Shelton had 15 kills and 7 blocks while Ericah Shoemaker had 8 kills. Heatherly handed out 17 assist and Allen was credited with 10. Denton recorded 11 digs.

Paola won the tournament with a 25-8, 25-19 sweep of Pittsburg in the finals. This was a rematch of a pool-play series that Paola won 25-15, 25-15.

The Tigers begin Southeast Kansas League play Thursday night. They will be in Coffeyville (3-10) for a triangular that also includes Parsons (11-6). Play is set to begin at 5 p.m. at Stoner-McClure Gymnasium.

NOTES -- Pittsburg (12-4) was playing without its 6' 2" senior middle hitter Skyler Muff, who broke her left hand when she was bucked off a nervous horse last Sunday. She was wearing a cast Saturday but does not need surgery, Dragon coach Mary Packard told the Morning Sun's Brock Sisney. Muff is expected to miss two more weeks....