Panthers surge to 9-2 start

     Separating the Monticello High School volleyball team from a perfect record so far: a total of four points.

     “We’re 9-2, and both losses were by two points, so we’re right there,” Monticello coach Stacie Breitbach said. “We put ourselves in a position to win.”

     The Panthers have done a lot of winning early this season, going 3-1 at the Cascade Tournament Aug. 31, winning the River Valley Conference opener at North Cedar Sept. 5, and going 5-1 at the Midland Tournament Sept. 7, reaching the championship match before falling to Cascade by two points in the final set.

     Monticello opened at the Cascade Tournament, and swept three matches during pool play. Those included a 21-12, 21-8 win over East Buchanan, a 21-18, 21-10 triumph over Springville, and a 21-16, 21-18 win over Dubuque Senior.

     That put the Panthers into a quarterfinal match against North Linn, which they lost 22-24, 21-18, 13-15.

     Individual highlights from the tournament: Jordan Kuper had a total of 40 kills and nine blocks in the four matches, and Tori McDonald had 63 assists. DeLainy Fellinger totaled 30 digs.

     The conference-opening win at North Cedar Sept. 5 meant a lot to the Panthers as well, as North Cedar had been a tough foe in recent years. Monticello struggled in the first set, falling 14-25, but rallied to win the next three 25-19, 25-21, 25-20.

     “I think it was just conference-opener jitters, just nervousness,” Breitbach said of the first set. “I think they just realized, we can do better things. They relaxed and just played ball instead of overthinking things.”

     Kuper had 23 kills and McDonald had 27 assists in the match. Fellinger had 18 digs, Kuper had 15, and Sophie Hodge had nine. Fellinger also served 19-for-19 with five aces.

     Monticello largely breezed through pool play at the Midland Tournament, winning four matches in straight sets, and never allowing as many as 20 points in a set.

     Those wins were 21-15, 21-17 over Central Elkader; 21-10, 21-18 over Central City; 21-13, 21-8 over Midland; and 21-17, 21-5 over Lone Tree. Jaelyn Aitchison had five digs in the Central City match, Leah Holub had five digs against Midland, and Piper Hansen came off the bench to serve five aces in the Lone Tree match.

     The Panthers met Iowa City West in the tournament semifinals, and scored a 21-15, 15-21, 15-9 win. Kuper had 14 kills, McDonald had 22 assists, and Fellinger had eight digs in the match.

     That put Monticello in the finals against rival Cascade. After winning 21-19 and losing 11-21, the Panthers played Cascade to a 15-15 tie in the deciding set before the Cougars scored two points for a 15-17 Monticello loss.

     “Cascade is super scrappy,” Breitbach said. “We got to that third game, and it was point-for-point.”

     Kuper had 17 kills, McDonald had 18 assists, and the team had 32 digs against Cascade, led by Fellinger with nine and Sophie Hodge with eight.

     “On the day, to go 5-1, that’s a good day. We came up a little short in the end, but we’re a fairly young team, and having that opportunity to gain more experience is important.

     “We’ve just got to be more confident, and I think that comes, the more you win and the more you play together.”

 

Aug. 31

Cascade Tournament

Pool Play

Monticello 2, E. Buchanan 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl  Dg  Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      8      1

Tori McDonald                              2      0      2      0

Jordan Kuper                               7      1      2      0

Carly Hayen                                 1      0      1      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      2      1

Sophie Hodge                               0      0      0      0

Gabrielle Steiner                          1      0      0      0

Bronwyn Hodge                           1      1      3      0

Emma Hynick                               6      0      0      0

Rylee Bauer                                 1      0      0      0

Madison Butterworth                    0      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                           0      0      0      0

Totals                                          19     2    18      2

Assists – McDonald 15, B. Hodge 1,

Kuper 1.

Serving leaders – Holub 15-15, Fellinger

7-7.

Set scores

Monticello                   21   21

East Buchanan           12     8

 

Monticello 2, Springville 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg   Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      4      0

Tori McDonald                              3      0      1      0

Jordan Kuper                               9      0      1      3

Carly Hayen                                 2      0      0      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      2      0

Sophie Hodge                               0      0      5      1

Gabrielle Steiner                           1      0      0      0

Bronwyn Hodge                            1      1      0      0

Emma Hynick                                2      0      2      0

Madison Butterworth                     0      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                            0      0      0      0

Totals                                          18      1    15      4

Assists – McDonald 14, Holub 1, Kuper 1,

Steiner 1.

Serving leaders – McDonald 8-9, S. Hodge

8-8.

Set scores

Monticello                   21   21

Springville                   18   10

 

Monticello 2, Dub. Senior 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl    Dg   Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      8      0

Tori McDonald                              1      0      3      0

Jordan Kuper                               11     5      3      2

Carly Hayen                                  3      1      0      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      0      1

Sophie Hodge                               0      0      0      0

Gabrielle Steiner                           2      0      0      0

Bronwyn Hodge                            0      3      3      0

Emma Hynick                               1      0      1      0

Madison Butterworth                     0      0      1      0

Totals                                           18     9     19     3

Assists – McDonald 13, Kuper 2, B. Hodge 1.

Serving leaders – McDonald 10-10, Kuper

10-11.

Set scores

Monticello                    21   21

Dbq. Senior                 16   18

 

Bracket play

Quarterfinals

North Linn 2, Monticello 1

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl   Dg    Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                        0      0     10     0

Tori McDonald                             4      1       5      2

Jordan Kuper                              13     3      7      2

Carly Hayen                                 3      1      1      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      5      0

Sophie Hodge                               0      0      2      0

Gabrielle Steiner                           3      1      1      0

Bronwyn Hodge                            3      0      1      0

Emma Hynick                                4      0      0      2

Totals                                           30      6    32     6

Assists – McDonald 21, Fellinger 2, Holub

2, S. Hodge 1, B. Hodge 1, Kuper 1.

Serving leaders – McDonald 14-14,

Fellinger 9-9.

Set scores

Monticello                    22   21   13

North Linn                    24   18   15

 

Sept. 5

Monticello 3, North Cedar 1

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl  Dg    Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0   18      5

Tori McDonald                              2      2      5      1

Jordan Kuper                              23      4   15      2

Carly Hayen                                 2      1      0      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      4      2

Sophie Hodge                               0      0      9      1

Bronwyn Hodge                            1      0      1      0

Emma Hynick                               7      2      6      0

Madison Butterworth                     1      1      0      0

Totals                                           36    10   58    11

Assists – McDonald 27, Kuper 4, Holub 2,

Hynick 1.

Serving leaders – Fellinger 19-19,

Holub 16-17.

Set scores

Monticello                   14   25   25   25

North Cedar                25   19   21   20

 

Sept. 7

Midland Tournament

Pool play

Monticello 2, Central Elkader 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl     Dg   Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      6      2

Tori McDonald                              2      0      3      1

Jordan Kuper                                8      2      1      0

Carly Hayen                                  5      1      0      0

Leah Holub                                    0      0      1      1

Sophie Hodge                                0      0      3      0

Gabrielle Steiner                            0      0      0      0

Bronwyn Hodge                             2      3      0      0

Emma Hynick                                 4      0      1      0

Madison Butterworth                      0      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                             0      0      0      0

Emma Sperfslage                           0      0      0      0

Totals                                            21      6    15     4

Assists – McDonald 17, Kuper 1, Hayen 1.

Serving leaders – McDonald 9-9,

Holub 8-8.

Set scores

Monticello                   21   21

Central Elkader          15   17

 

Monticello 2, Central City 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl   Dg    Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         1      0      6      1

Tori McDonald                              0      0      5      0

Jordan Kuper                              12     1      1      0

Carly Hayen                                  2      0      0      0

Leah Holub                                    0      0      1      0

Sophie Hodge                                0      0      3      0

Gabrielle Steiner                            1      1      1      0

Bronwyn Hodge                             1      2      0      0

Emma Hynick                                 4      0      1      0

Madison Butterworth                       3      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                              0      0      5      0

Piper Hansen                                  0      0      0      1

Totals                                            24     4      23     2

Assists – McDonald 21, Holub 1, Kuper 1.

Serving leaders – Fellinger 13-13,

Aitchison 8-8.

Set scores

Monticello                    21   21

Central City                 10   18

 

Monticello 2, Midland 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl    Dg   Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      6      2

Tori McDonald                              3      0      3      0

Jordan Kuper                               11     1      2      0

Carly Hayen                                  2      0      0      0

Leah Holub                                    0      0      5      1

Sophie Hodge                                0      0      0      2

Bronwyn Hodge                             0      0      0      0

Emma Hynick                                 1      0      2      1

Madison Butterworth                      3      1      2      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                             0      0      1      2

Totals                                            20     2     21     8

Assists – McDonald 15, Holub 1, Kuper 1.

Serving leaders – S. Hodge 15-15,

Aitchison 11-11.

Set scores

Monticello                     21   21

Midland                         13     8

 

Monticello 2, Lone Tree 0

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg    Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      6      1

Tori McDonald                              0      0      3      1

Jordan Kuper                                5      1      2      0

Carly Hayen                                  2      0      0      0

Leah Holub                                    0      0      2      0

Sophie Hodge                                0      0      3      0

Gabrielle Steiner                            0      0      0      0

Bronwyn Hodge                             4      1      1      0

Emma Hynick                                3      0      0      1

Rylee Bauer                                   0      0      0      0

Madison Butterworth                     1      1      0      0

Emma Sperfslage                          0      0      0      1

Piper Hansen                                 0      0      0      5

Totals                                           15      3    17      9

Assists – McDonald 13.

Serving leaders – Hansen 13-13,

McDonald 12-12.

Set scores

Monticello                     21   21

Lone Tree                     17     5

 

Bracket play

Semifinals

Monticello 2, Iowa City West 1

MONTICELLO                            Kl     Bl    Dg   Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      8      2

Tori McDonald                              1      0      5      0

Jordan Kuper                              14      2      6      1

Carly Hayen                                  4      0      1      0

Leah Holub                                   0      0      5      0

Sophie Hodge                               0      0      4      0

Bronwyn Hodge                            4      1      1      0

Emma Hynick                                3      0      2      2

Madison Butterworth                     2      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                            0      0      2      0

Piper Hansen                                0      0      0      1

Totals                                           28     3    34      6

Assists – McDonald 22, Kuper 2, S. Hodge 1.

Serving leaders – Fellinger 12-13,

McDonald 10-11.

Set scores

Monticello                   21   15   15

Iowa City West            15   21     9

 

Championship

Cascade 2, Monticello 1

MONTICELLO                            Kl    Bl    Dg    Ac

DeLainy Fellinger                         0      0      9      0

Tori McDonald                              2      1      5      0

Jordan Kuper                              17     2      6      5

Carly Hayen                                 2      2      0      0

Leah Holub                                  0      0      3      0

Sophie Hodge                              0      0      8      0

Bronwyn Hodge                           1      2      0      0

Emma Hynick                               0      1      1      0

Madison Butterworth                     0      0      0      0

Jaelyn Aitchison                            0      0      0      0

Totals                                           22     8     32     5

Assists – McDonald 18, S. Hodge 1.

Serving leaders – Fellinger 10-10,

Kuper 12-13, McDonald 9-10.

Set scores

Monticello                   21   11   15

Cascade                     19   21   17