Tigers Honor Nine On Senior Night, Drop First Set But Rally To Defeat Belleville West 14-25, 25-15, 25-17

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Oct 23, 2021 7:44 AM

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EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville girls volleyball team overcame a slow start on Senior Night, dropping the opening set but rallying to take a 14-25, 25-15, 25-17 win over Belleville West in the final regular season Southwestern Conference match Thursday evening at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

In the annual pre-match ceremonies, the Tigers honored seniors Kaitlyn Conway, Emma Garner, Lexie Griffin, Jada Hall, Sydney Harris, Rachel Heflin, Kloi Karban, Gabby Saye and Maddie Vieth and their families, thanking them for their contributions to the very successful Edwardsville program. In the opening set, the Tigers got off to a very slow start, with the emotions of Senior Night still on their minds.

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"Tonight, we had a slow start," said Edwardsville head coach Heather Ohlau. "I believe the emotions were running high, with it being Senior Night and our final match on our home court during the regular season. Belleville West played phenomenally on defense. They were digging several of our attacks and keeping the ball alive. We kept trying to mix up our offense and worked on scoring with different shots."

The Tigers overcame the slow start, dropping the first set to the Maroons, but coming back in the next two sets to open up some runs and take the lead, going on to the win in the match.

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Saye led the way for the Tigers with nine kills, while Ava Waltenberger had eight, with Conway having 11 digs and serving up 10 points, Garner came up with eight digs, Griffin had seven digs and 17 assists and Harris served up nine points to go along with four blocks.

The Tigers finish the regular season 28-7 and will start the IHSA Class 4A postseason Tuesday night in the Granite City regional against the host Warriors in a 5:30 p.m. start. The Tigers-Warriors winner will play the winner between the Maroon and Alton, who face off in the second semifinal at 6:30 p.m., in the final Oct. 28 in a 6 p.m. start.