Eighth-grade Du Quoin Lady Warriors fall to Sparta in regular-season finale
The Du Quoin eighth-grade Lady Warriors came up just short in its regular-season finale against conference foe Sparta Monday night, dropping the match in three sets, 25-20, 19-25, 10-15. <br />The first set opened up with a back-and-forth battle, as Sparta came out to an early 5-3 lead, but Du Quoin battled back as a kill from Lauren Heape gave the Lady Warriors a 6-5 lead. <br />Sparta answered, tying the game at eight and stringing together a four more unanswered to take its largest lead of the set, 12-8. <br />After a serving error gave the ball back to Du Quoin, Sparta strung together another run, scoring three unanswered to build up its lead, 15-9. <br />Sparta remained in control, as a serving error from DMS kept them ahead, 18-13. <br />But, the Lady Warriors responded. <br />Ayanna Dunklin led the way from the serve, tallying two aces which Heape followed up with a block and kill to give DMS the lead, 21-18. <br />Sparta pulled within one, but Aubrey Barwick closed things out for the Lady Warriors, hitting three straight aces to give her team a first-set win, 25-20. <br />Du Quoin carried the momentum over to start the second set, opening up with a 4-0 run highlighted by three aces from Sophie Miller. <br />But, Sparta responded with a 7-0 run to gain the lead, 7-4. <br />Lexi Cobin answered for DMS, tying the game up at 10 with an ace and serving another point to take the lead back, 11-10. <br />After trading leads three more times, Sparta finally gained control, taking a 22-17 lead with a couple of aces. <br />The Lady Warriors were unable to come back from there, as Sparta closed out the set with a kill to win, 25-19. <br />In the third and final set, the Lady Warriors started out slow, as Sparta jumped out to a 9-3 lead. <br />Du Quoin was unable to recover as Sparta took the third set, 15-10, dropping DMS to 14-10-3 on the season. <br />In seventh-grade action, Du Quoin improved to 13-1 with a sweep over Sparta, 25-20, 25-23. <br />The Lady Warriors will resume action at the Hamilton County Regional on Thursday night, opening up with a match against the host, slated fro 6:30 p.m.<br />Stats<br />Aces: Dunklin 2; Barwick 4; Heape 1; Harley Ransom 1; Miller 3; Cobin 1<br />Digs: Ella Hirsch 2; Delainey Dearmond 2; Lindsey Grossman 1 <br />Kills: Cammi Knapp1; Heape 5; Dunklin 3; Barwick 2; Dearmond 3<br />Assists: Miller 8; Heape 2<br />Blocks: Knapp 1; Heape 1.