Princeville girls win volleyball tourney

By PHIL JOHNSON
For The Weekly Post

PRINCEVILLE – The Lady Princes volleyball team posted yet another victory in their annual Princeville Invite tournament on Saturday.

The Lady Princes rolled past Stark County in their opener (21-9, 21-9) and followed that with a 21-15, 21-9 victory over eventual third-place finisher Elmwood.

From there it was on to the title match, where Princeville won 25-19, 25-14 over Annawan.

Two Princeville players made the all-tournament team: Amber Brawley and Julianne Kielion.

Other local players named all-tournament were Molly Warner and Olivia Farquer of ROWVA-Williamsfield, Annie Herman and Addie Webster of Elmwood and Ella Lune of Brimfield.

ROWVA-Williamsfield

ROWVA-Williamsfield (9-6) fell to Princeville 25-8, 25-11 in a Lincoln Trail game Monday on the road.

“We’ve hit a rough patch in our season at this time,” R-W assistant coach Jaime Trotter said. “Princeville is very good, and without our strong middle, Kat Hunt, out with the COVID virus, we couldn’t get enough touches at the net.”

Molly Warner led the Lady Cougars in kills with six. Liv Farquer had nine digs. Olive Woodsmall led R-W in service points.

At Saturday’s Princeville Invite ROWVA-Williamsfield topped Brimfield 21-15, 13-21,15-13.

“We seemed to have used up most of our energy in this win,” Trotter said.
R-W won on a forfeit from DePue, fell short to Annawan (21-17, 21-12), then to Elmwood (23-21, 12-21, 2-15).

“It was quite a day. We’re still getting to play the game we love, but half of our starters are home due to the Covid virus,” Trotter said.

Warner had 16 kills for the day. Farquer got 30 digs. Chloee Secrist blocked nine. Izzy Nelson recorded 32 assists.

Last Wednesday the Lady Cougars came out on top in a thriller over Mercer County 25-22, 22-25, 26-24. Warner had 11 kills. Nelson got 19 assists. Farquer had 15 digs. Angelina collected five blocks, and Woodsmall recorded 16 service points.

“We did the impossible tonight. We have 10 varsity players in COVID-19 quarantine. We pulled up JV players to be able to play the game, and we won. Holy smokes!” Trotter said. “This team has next-woman-up mentality, and they are performing. Also, head coach Secrist has been putting the correct puzzle pieces together.”

The next game for R-W is today, a non-conference contest, at Peoria Christian.

Elmwood

Elmwood (10-11) battled back on Monday at home to top Havana with two close winning sets 19-25, 25-23, 27-25 in Prairieland Conference action.

“We were very proud of the way the girls competed all the way through tonight,” Coach Felicia Appell said.

Annie Herman had 12 kills. Liv Meyers got 9 kills and5 blocks. Addie Webster had 2 aces, 24 assists and 7 digs. Etta Wagner blocked three. Eileen Conklin assisted on 10 scores and Bella Cantora came up with 5 digs.

The Lady Trojans won five out of six in the past week. At the Princeville Invite on Saturday, EHS beat Peoria Heights 21-19, 21-2, fell to Princeville 21-15, 21-9, swept Stark County 21-8, 21-6 and took third in the tournament with a 21-23, 21-12, 15-2 advantage over ROWVA-Williamsfield.

Contributions on the day came from Webster’s eight aces and 30 assists. Conklin had six aces and 18 assists. Herman got 17 kills and 21 digs. Amelia Penny-Baldoni recorded 17 kills. Wagner came up with 10 kills and four blocks. Meyers had five blocks. Kate Yemm dug out 20.

Elmwood swept Bushnell Prairie City 25-12, 25-16 last Wednesday in a Prairieland contest on the road. Herman had one block and five kills. Brooke Dawson, Baldoni and Wagner each got four kills. Cantora came up with nine digs. Conklin recorded eight assists. Webster had eight assists and six digs in the win.

EHS picked up a Prairieland win on the road on Tuesday of last week over South Fulton 25-21, 25-11.

The Lady Trojans next travel to take on North Fulton today.
Brimfield

Brimfield improved to 9-9 for the season with a 25-22, 25-17 win on Monday at home over Prairieland rival Farmington. Elly Doe contributed six digs. Hannah Burkitt got 5 digs and 19 assists. Jaclyn Fabry had six kills and six ace serves. Ella Lune scored on nine kills in the win.

The Lady Indians went 2-2 at Saturday’s Princeville Invitational. The team fell to R-W (15-21, 21-13, 13-15) and Annawan (21-15, 21-19). Victories were over DePue (by forfeit) and Peoria Heights (22-24, 21-10, 15-11).

“Ella Florey stepped up in the middle for us and did a fine job. The girls are learning to work together more,” Coach Penny Silzer said.

For the tournament, Burkitt collected 18 digs, 66 assists and 4 aces. Lune had 17 digs, 3 blocks and 11 kills. Fabry got three aces. Emily Ehnle had 2 blocks, while Ella Florey got 2 blocks and 14 kills on the day.

Brimfield is at home today to take on ICAC opponent Illini Bluffs.

Farmington

Farmington was dealt a 25-18, 25-22 loss by Prairieland opponent Brimfield Monday on the road.

The Lady Farmers (2-5) swept Bushnell-Prairie City 25-18, 25-22 in Prairieland action at home last Wednesday.

Alayna Keefer scored on six kills and three aces. Emma Evans collected three aces and eight assists. Bailey Kennelly defended on six digs, and Holly Shriber got one block.

Back on Sept. 14, Farmington fell to non-conference foe Macomb 25-1, 25-10.

Keefer killed two, blocked two, had an ace and assisted on two scores. Shriber had two blocks. Evans got two assists and Kennelly had eight digs.

The Lady Farmers are at home today versus Prairieland rival South Fulton.