Monticello steps closer to North title, hosts tourney


Monticello’s Jayden Kuper (left) and Keziah McQuillen put up a block against Central DeWitt in the Panthers’ home tournament Sept. 25. (Photos by Pete Temple)

Madison Butterworth goes for a kill in the Panthers’ tournament match against Central DeWitt. Backing up the play is Emma Hynick.
VOLLEYBALL
By: 
Pete Temple
Express Sports Editor

     Monticello continued to control its own fate in the River Valley Conference, North Division volleyball race, with a road sweep of Camanche Sept. 23.

     The Panthers swept Camanche 25-9, 25-12, 25-14; and ended the week 4-0 in division play, with matches against Northeast (0-3) and North Cedar (2-1) pending.

     Monticello also hosted a five-team round robin tournament Sept. 25, going 2-2, so the Panthers came out of the week with an overall record of 12-7.

     The Camanche win was a big one for the red and black.

     “It is a haul to Camanche, but I was super proud at how well the girls came out and played hard,” Monticello coach Stacie Breitbach said.

     Monticello put up some impressive numbers in the match, including 27 kills. Emma Hynick and Jayden Kuper each had seven of those, and Keziah McQuillen had five. Mallory Steiner had 20 of the team’s 24 assists. The Panthers also served 10 aces, led by Kuper with five.

     “Mallory did a great job running our offense, we served strong, and we were scrappy on defense,” the coach said.

     Defensively, Hynick had 10 of the team’s 46 digs, McQuillen recorded seven, while Bronwyn Hodge and Kuper totaled six apiece. Hodge and Kuper had three blocks apiece.

     The Panthers served at 93 percent, led by three 100 percent servers with double-digit attempts: McQuillen at 14-for-14, Steiner 11-for-11, and Hynick 10-for-10.

     Then came the Monticello Invitational, during which the Panthers had a pair of wins and a pair of razor-thin losses.

     Monti opened against Maquoketa, and won in two sets, 26-24, 18-25. The Panthers had a balanced attack, with six different players recording at least two kills apiece. Hynick and Kuper led with six each, and Hodge had five. Steiner made 21 assists. Getting six digs each were Hynick, Steiner, McQuillen and Piper Hansen. Steiner also served 11-for-11.

     The Panthers lost a pair of tough sets to Central DeWitt, 22-25, 24-26. Kuper recorded nine kills in that one, and Hodge had six. Jordan Fangmann had 16 digs. Hynick served 11-for-11.

     “Against DeWitt, we didn’t defend our net or serve-receive as well as we are capable of, which didn’t allow us to set up and run our offense as effectively as we would like,” Breitbach said.

     Against Northeast of Goose Lake, the Panthers bounced back to win 25-19, 25-14. Three hitters led the kill department, as Kuper had seven, Hodge six and Hynick five. Steiner made 16 assists. McQuillen had six digs. Fangmann served 11-for-11.

     “Our hitters were strong and kept Northeast off balance,” the coach said.

     That was followed by a narrow loss to Union Community. The Panthers won the first set 25-9, then lost 15-25, 13-15. Hynick and Hodge had seven kills apiece, as Steiner made 20 assists. Fangmann led the team in digs with seven, and Hynick had six. Piper Hansen served 7-for-7.

     “We had our chances against Union, but just couldn’t finish,” Breitbach said. “We got away from being aggressive and were playing safe, which allowed Union to run their offense.”

     The Panthers were scheduled to play host to Northeast Sept. 28, and will play at North Cedar Sept. 30. Wins in both would give Monticello a second straight North Division championship.

 

Sept. 23

(at Camanche)

Monticello 3, Camanche 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl  Dg   Ac

Emma Hynick                               7      1   10     1

Bronwyn Hodge                           2      3     2      0

Jayden Kuper                               7      3     6      5

Mallory Steiner                             3      0      6      0

Keziah McQuillen                         5      1     7      1

Jordan Fangmann                        0      0     4      0

Madison Butterworth                    1      1      1      0

Piper Hansen                               0      0     3      1

Emma Sperfslage                         0      0      3      2

Lacie Koppes                               1      0      1      0

Kylee Van Dorn                            0      0      1      0

Mya Hansen                                 0      0      1      0

Mia Jaeger                                   0      0      1      0

Abby Sharlow                               1      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                           0      0      0      0

Totals                                          27     9    46    10

Assists – Steiner 20, Hodge 1, McQuillen 1,

Fangmann 1.

Serving leaders – McQuillen 14-14,

Steiner 11-11, Hynick 10-10.

Set scores

Monticello                   25   25   25

Camanche                   9    12   14

 

Sept. 25

Monticello Inv.

(all pool play)

Monticello 2, Maquoketa 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl   Dg   Ac

Emma Hynick                               6      0     6      0

Bronwyn Hodge                            4      2     1      0

Jayden Kuper                               6      1     5      5

Mallory Steiner                             2      0      6      2

Keziah McQuillen                         3      2     6      0

Jordan Fangmann                        0      0     1      3

Madison Butterworth                    5      0      2      0

Piper Hansen                               0      0     6      0

Emma Sperfslage                        0      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                           0      0      1      0

Totals                                          26     5     34    10

Assists – Steiner 21, Fangmann 2.

Serving leaders – Steiner 11-11,

P. Hansen 9-9.

Set scores

Maquoketa                  24   18

Monticello                   26   25

 

Central DeWitt 2, Monti 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg   Ac

Emma Hynick                               2      1     7      1

Bronwyn Hodge                            6      1     1      0

Jayden Kuper                               9      2     5      1

Mallory Steiner                             1      0      6      0

Keziah McQuillen                         3      0      5      2

Jordan Fangmann                        0      0    16     0

Madison Butterworth                    2      1      0      0

Piper Hansen                               0      0      6      1

Jaelyn Aitchison                           0      0      2      0

Totals                                          23     5    48      5

Assists – Steiner 19, Fangmann 2.

Serving leaders – Hynick 11-11,

P. Hansen 7-7, Steiner 6-6.

Set scores

Central DeWitt         25   26

Monticello                22   24

 

Monticello 2, Northeast 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl   Dg   Ac

Emma Hynick                               5      2     1      1

Bronwyn Hodge                            6      2     0      0

Jayden Kuper                               7      2     4      1

Mallory Steiner                             2      0      2      0

Keziah McQuillen                         3      1     6      0

Jordan Fangmann                        0      0     1      4

Madison Butterworth                    2      2      1      0

Piper Hansen                                0      0     3      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                            0      0      1      0

Mya Hansen                                  0      0      1      0

Totals                                           25     9     20     6

Assists – Steiner 16, Hynick 1, Aitchison 1,

Fangmann 1.

Serving leader – Fangmann 11-11.

Set scores

Northeast                     19   14

Monticello                     25   25

 

Union Comm. 2, Monticello 1

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl   Dg   Ac

Emma Hynick                               7      0     6      0

Bronwyn Hodge                           7      1     0      0

Jayden Kuper                              5      2     4      2

Mallory Steiner                            1      0      3      2

Keziah McQuillen                         3      0     3      3

Jordan Fangmann                        0      0     7      0

Madison Butterworth                    3      2      1      0

Piper Hansen                                1      0     3      0

Mia Jaeger                                    0      0      1      1

Emma Sperfslage                         0      0      0      0

Lacie Koppes                                0      0      0      0

Abby Sharlow                                0      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                            0      0      0      0

Totals                                           27     5     28     8

Assists – Steiner 20, Kuper 3.

Serving leaders – P. Hansen 7-7, 

Hynick 6-6, Steiner 10-11, Kuper 10-11.

Set scores

Union Comm.               9   25   15

Monticello                   25   15   13

 

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