A very successful year came to a close for the Alliance St. Agnes volleyball clubs with a pair of victories over Gordon Rushville at home on Tuesday. Both wins were three set thrillers. The Lady Crusader varsity squad finished their year with a 10 and 6 record after besting the Mustangs 19 25 2517 18 16 while the Junior varsity team also got the win over the guests by scores of 25 22 21 25 15 12. St. Agnes faced 4 game points in the varsity match up before getting the 2 point W. Leading the offense for the Academy were 8th graders Alexis Shelmadine and Aubrey Dudden who scored 8 points each.
Set one of the varsity affair had both teams enjoying the lead. Early Alliance tallies by Quinn Robertson and Shelmadine kept SA in the game. Down 9 to 7, the Academy got a kill and a point by Kale Hulquist to tie the set at 9. Three straight Robertson points later on gave the hosts a 15 to 13 cushion. During the spree, the Crusaders got nice plays from Addison Intermill and Dudden. However down the stretch it was Gordon making things work. With the score favoring the visitors 20 to 19, the Mustangs rattled off 5 in a row to win the set 25 to 19.
St. Agnes was the aggressor early in set 2,storming out to a comfortable advantage. Early Shelmadine points got the Academy off to a strong lead. A pair of kills by Hulquist push the Crusader margin to 7 to 3. Alliance’s lead then grew to 12 to 4 thanks to kills and points by Hulquist and Shelmadine. Ahead 15 to 7, Shelmadine went to work from the serving line. The Crusader 8th grader scored 4 straight as the Alliance lead went to 19 to 7. The teams would trade side outs in the final moments. Set 2 finished with a kill by Dudden and SA winning 25 to 17.
In the third, play was tight. Dudden’s four points paced the Academy. Two Delaney Jelinek tallies gave the hosts an 8 to 5 lead. A kill by Hulquist plus 2 ace serves by the Academy 7th grader made the board read Alliance 11 Gordon 7. A 6 to 1 run by the Mustangs ensued as the guests took the lead. Down 14 to 12, a kill by Dudden saved off game point. A point by Robertson then tied the game at 14 before another tally by GR set up another game point. Alliance was up for the challenge and tied the battle at 15. Down 16 to 15, the Lady Crusaders manager one last push. Alliance knotted the contest at 16 before a pair of ace serves by Dudden gave the Academy the win 18 to 16.
GR 25 17 16
SA 19 25 18
Stats Shelmadine 8 points 4 kills Dudden 8 points 5 kills Jelinek 2 points Intermill 1 points 1 kill Hulquist 4 kills 7 points Robertson 5 points
Playing their final game Tuesday were 8th graders: Dudden Jelinek Shelmadine Intermill Grace Shrewsbury and Natalie Mullen