The McDonald County High School volleyball team took second place in the Silver Bracket of the CJ Classic Volleyball Tournament played on Sept. 26 at Carl Junction High School to improve the Lady Mustangs' season record to 6-7.
In the bracket semifinals, McDonald County defeated Pittsburg, Kan., 24-26, 25-14, 25-22 to earn a spot in the finals against West Plains.
McDonald County won the first set 25-19, but the Lady Zizzers claimed 25-16, 25-18 wins in the second and third sets for the title.
McDonald County went 1-2 in pool play, but the win was an upset of Carthage.
McDonald County won the first set against the Lady Tigers, 25-21, before Carthage forced a third by winning the second set by the same score.
In the third set, the Lady Mustangs claimed a 15-13 decision.
Nevada handed McDonald County a 26-28, 25-16, 25-11 loss in the Lady Mustangs' first pool match.
After defeating Carthage, McDonald County dropped a 21-25, 20-25 decision to Neosho.
Katelyn Ferdig recorded 33 kills in the tournament to lead McDonald County. Erin Cooper added 99 assists and eight aces, while Kaycee Factor had 62 digs and Sydnie Sanny had seven blocks.
Factor, a senior libero, was named to the All-Tournament team.
"Fourteen sets of competitive volleyball in one day is a lot to play and our team did a good job of handling that overall," said coach Logan Grab. "We went three sets on every match except for one and that revealed our ability to battle back and compete for a match after losing a set. Our hitting remained consistent throughout most of the day and that is attributed to passing and setting also being consistent. As a team, we must continue working on the mental toughness aspect of the game in pressure situations. We came away from this weekend with several successes and lessons that will undoubtedly contribute to the growth our athletes are experiencing. I am proud of the progress our program has made over the past three years and look forward to the second half of our season."
McDonald County hosted Nevada on Sept. 29 for Senior Night before traveling to Monett on Oct. 1.
Galena, Baxter Springs
After getting its matches against College Heights canceled on Sept. 24 due to several of College Heights' players being under quarantine, the Lady Mustangs picked up a pair of matches in Galena, Kan.
Against Galena, McDonald County won the first set 25-14 only to see Galena claim a 25-20 win in the second to force a third set.
The Lady Mustangs pulled away for a 25-18 win in the set to claim the match.
Against Baxter Springs, McDonald County claimed a 25-18, 25-19 win.
Sanny had 16 kills, Ferdig added 15 and Shye Hardin had 13 to lead McDonald County.
Cooper had 57 assists and Factor had 20 digs
Freshman, Junior Varsity
The McDonald County freshman and junior varsity teams competed at tournaments in Diamond on Sept. 26.
The junior varsity defeated Diamond 25-14, 25-18, 25-16, but fell to Lamar 18-25, 21-25, 18-25 and to Sarcoxie 12-25, 25-12, 6-15.
The freshmen split sets with New Covenant, winning 25-20 and dropping a 14-25 decision.
Diamond claimed a 25-17, 25-16 win while New Covenant claimed a 25-18, 25-16 win in a rematch.