Panthers host tourney, reach semis in 2-5 week

     It’s a peak part of the regular season schedule for the Monticello High School volleyball team, as evidenced by the team’s seven matches in five days last week.

     While the win-loss total for the week wasn’t what the Panthers had hoped for – they won two and lost five – there were highlights, primarily in the Monticello Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 22.

     There, the Panthers (0-5, 10-17) pulled off a narrow victory during pool play, beating DeWitt Central 24-22, 22-20. That helped them go 2-2 in pool play, and due to a point spread tie-breaker, Monticello earned a spot in the semifinals. There, they lost to Union of LaPorte City to finish 2-3 for the tournament.

     “Overall we did some great things,” Monticello coach Stacie Breitbach said. “At times, we also had unforced errors that led to giving up too many runs to the other teams.”

     Monticello opened the tournament with a two-set loss to Union, 8-21, 13-21. Two blocks each by Jordan Kuper and Beka Prull were among the high points in that match.

     Then came the DeWitt Central match. After winning the first set, the Panthers rallied from a five-point deficit in the second set to come away with the win. Kuper had 11 kills and served 10-for-10. Leah Holub was 14-for-14 serving, and Tori McDonald had 18 assists. Jaelynn Kraus and Kuper had six digs apiece.

     “The girls worked hard and made good decisions offensively down the stretch that enabled us to beat them,” Breitbach said.

     The Panthers also won the next match, beating Northeast of Goose Lake 21-14, 21-16. McDonald put up 15 assists in that one, as Kuper had nine kills and Kraus had four.

     The final pool play match was against Maquoketa, a 15-21, 15-21 loss. Kuper had six digs and five kills. McDonald made nine assists. Kraus had three kills, and Carly Hayen had two.

     In the semifinals, the Panthers lost to Union for a second time, 19-25, 15-25. Kuper had 10 kills and seven digs, McDonald had 12 assists, Sophie Hodge had five digs and Megan James had four.

     Earlier in the week, the Panthers had a pair of River Valley Conference matches, a five set loss at Cascade Sept. 18, and a three-set loss to second-ranked Tipton, in Monticello, Sept. 20.

     At Cascade, the Panthers fell 25-20, 21-25, 17-25, 25-21, 12-15.

     “We needed to finish in game five,” Breitbach said. “We built up a lead but couldn’t sustain it. I think we try to do too much instead of what got us to that point.”

     Kuper had 25 kills in the match. The team had 72 digs, led by Kraus with 16, Kuper and Hodge with 11 apiece. Mallory Steiner and McDonald made 13 assists apiece.

     Tipton brought a hard-hitting team into the Monticello gym Thursday, and the Panthers lost 12-25, 11-25, 12-25.

     “Tipton has lots of offense, probably the best setter we have seen, and they serve extremely tough,” the coach said.

     Kuper had 10 kills, Hodge had six digs, and McDonald had eight assists against the Tigers.

     “The team continues to compete and play hard no matter who the competition is, which is great to see,” Breitbach said. “As a team, they are gaining experience and growing with each match.”

 

Sept. 18

Cascade 3, Monticello 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl  Dg    Ac

Jaelynn Kraus                              4      1   16      0

Jordan Kuper                              25     3   11      2

Tori McDonald                              4      3      7      1

Carly Hayen                                 2      0      1      0

Sophie Hodge                              0      0   11      0

Beka Prull                                     3      2      6      3

Mallory Steiner                              0      0      7      2

Lainey Fellinger                             2      0      7      0

Clara Finger                                   0      0      4      0

Jordan Lorenzen                            0      0      2      0

Marissa McNally                             0      0      0      0

Totals                                            40     9     72     8

Assists – McDonald 13, Steiner 13, Kraus 5,

Kuper 4, Hodge 1, Prull 1.

Serving leaders – Steiner 25-26, Lorenzen

14-15, Kraus 12-13.

Set scores

Monticello                   25   21   17   25   12

Cascade                     20   25   25   21   15

 

Sept. 20

Tipton 3, Monticello 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg   Ac

Jaelynn Kraus                              2      0      4      0

Jordan Kuper                              10     1      4      1

Tori McDonald                              0      2      2      0

Carly Hayen                                 1      2      0      0

Sophie Hodge                              0      0      6      0

Beka Prull                                     3      0      3      0

Mallory Steiner                             0      0      3      1

Clara Finger                                 1      0      2      0

Marissa McNally                           0      1      0      0

Megan James                               0      0      0      0

Lainey Fellinger                            0      0      0      0

Jordan Lorenzen                           0      0      0      0

Kenna Melchert                             0      0      0      0

Totals                                           17     6     24     2

Assists – McDonald 8, Steiner 5, Kuper 2,

Hayen 1.

Serving leaders – McDonald 7-7, Steiner

7-7, Kraus 5-5, Hodge 4-4.

Set scores

Tipton                              25   25   25

Monticello                       12   11   12

 

Sept. 22

Monticello Invitational

Pool play

Union 2, Monticello 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl   Dg   Ac

Jaelynn Kraus                              1      0      2      0

Jordan Kuper                               1      2      1      2

Tori McDonald                              0      1      0      0

Carly Hayen                                 1      0      0      0

Sophie Hodge                              0      0      2      0

Beka Prull                                     3      2      3      0

Mallory Steiner                             1      0      0      0

Clara Finger                                 0      0      1      0

Marissa McNally                           1      0      0      0

Totals                                           8      5      9      2

Assists – McDonald 5, Kuper 2, Finger 1.

Serving leaders – Prull 5-5, Kuper 4-4,

McDonald 3-3.

Set scores

Monticello                          8    13

Union                               21    21

 

Monticello 2, DeWitt Central 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg   Ac

Jaelynn Kraus                              5      0      6      0

Jordan Kuper                              11     1      6      2

Tori McDonald                              2      0      2      0

Carly Hayen                                 0      0      1      0

Sophie Hodge                              0      0      4      0

Beka Prull                                     4      0      4      0

Clara Finger                                 0      0      2      0

Marissa McNally                           0      0      1      0

Megan James                               0      0      0      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      3      1

Totals                                          22     1     29     3

Assists – McDonald 18, Kuper 2, Hodge 1.

Serving leaders – Holub 14-14, Kuper

10-10, Prull 8-8.

Set scores

Monticello                   24   22

Union                          22   20

 

Monticello 2, Northeast 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg    Ac

Jaelynn Kraus                              4      0      2      0

Jordan Kuper                               9      0      2      1

Tori McDonald                              0      0      3      0

Carly Hayen                                 1      0      0      0

Sophie Hodge                               0      0      2      2

Beka Prull                                     1      0      2      0

Marissa McNally                           2      0      0      0

Megan James                               0      0      4      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      4      0

Totals                                          17     0     19     3

Assists – McDonald 15, Kuper 1.

Serving leaders – McDonald 7-7, Prull 7-7,

Holub 7-8.

Set scores

Monticello                    21   21

Northeast                     14   16

 

Maquoketa 2, Monticello 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg   Ac

Jaelynn Kraus                              3      0      3      0

Jordan Kuper                               5      0      6      0

Tori McDonald                              0      1      4      0

Carly Hayen                                 1      0      0      0

Sophie Hodge                              0      0      1      0

Beka Prull                                    1      0      1      3

Megan James                              0      0      5      0

Clara Finger                                 0      0      0      0

Marissa McNally                           0      0      0      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      1      0

Totals                                          11      1    21     3

Assists – McDonald 9, Hodge 1, Kuper 1.

Serving leaders – Kraus 5-5, Kuper 4-4.

Set scores

Monticello                   15   15

Maquoketa                  21   21

 

Semifinals

Union 2, Monticello 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg   Ac

Jaelynn Kraus                              1      0      3      0

Jordan Kuper                              10     2      7      1

Tori McDonald                              0      0      1      0

Carly Hayen                                 0      1      1      0

Sophie Hodge                              0      0      5      1

Beka Prull                                     2      1      1      0

Megan James                               0      0      4      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      3      0

Clara Finger                                  1      0      0      0

Marissa McNally                            0      0      0      0

Totals                                           14     4     25     2

Assists – McDonald 12, Hodge 1, Prull 1.

Serving leaders – Kuper 9-10, Holub 6-6,

Hodge 5-5.

Set scores

Monticello                    19     15

Union                           25     25