VOLLEYBALL: PCHS wins battle with Du Quoin
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It is always a battle, in any sport, when Pinckneyville and DuQuoin play each other. Thursday evening's volleyball match was no exception. It took three games for Pinckneyville to beat DuQuoin, but they did it with hard hitting spikes and awesome work at the net. The game scores were: DuQuoin 25-18, Pinckneyville 25-12, and Pinckneyville 25-19.
DuQuoin Coach, Isaac Miller, said it well: "We lost to a darn good team in Pinckneyville. They out played us tonight; they made the plays, and we did not. We got behind early in the second game, and it was too late for a comeback. But we will live to fight another day. We go to the Marion Tournament on Saturday, and one of our goals was to win a tournament. We have to keep our heads up and keep going after it."
DuQuoin's record goes to 18-6 overall and 5-3 in the conference, Pinckneyville improved to 10-12 (4-2).
For DuQuoin, Kelsey Toler had 12 kills and Rebekah Maddox 11. Keawna Anders with 15 and Cassidy Rice with 11 led in digs. Megi Jones had 13 assists followed by Ashley Ward with 11. Toler led in blocks with 4, Maddox had 3 as did Megi Jones.
Points on serve had Ward with 5, Toler 4, Anders 4 (2 aces), Rice 11 points, and Jessica Hirsch 1.
Pinckneyville's starting lineup of Taylor Cicardi, Katie Duvardo (Libero), Haleigh Hagood, Maddy Keith, Sara Malanowski, Haley Simpson, and Lindsey Winter worked well together to get the victory. Keith and Hagood were "spiking machines" at the net. They led in kills with Hagood having 13 and Keith 12. Keith also led in blocks with 5 and digs with 9. Malanowski led in assists with 15. Winter led in service points with 10, followed by Cicardi with 9, Hagood had 7, and Duvardo 6.
Pinckneyville Coach Katie Shaneyfelt said, "the girls seem to have started to become a team. They have improved drastically. We look forward to our last five games in hopes of finishing strong going into the regional. I give credit to the players. They are working hard."
In the Junior Varsity game, DuQuoin took the match 2-0 with game scores of 25-18 and 25-14. The JV record for DuQuoin is now 5-5.
Annie Bastien, Hailey Stewart, and Kate Toler all had 7 digs. Taylor King had two blocks. Bastien 5 and Kate Toler 4 led in kills. Stewart 8 and Jessica Phillips 5 led in assists.
In the Freshmen match, Pinckneyville took the victory. The game scores were 21-17 and 21-17. DuQuoin's freshman record is now 14-2.
DuQuoin travels to Marion on Saturday for a tournament. They play an early game at 9:00 a.m.
Pinckneyville returns to action on Tuesday night at Sparta (7:30 p.m. approximate varsity start time).
</group><group id="FA7EE759-77C3-4BDD-9685-93600ABE46CE" type="seoLabels"><seoLabels></seoLabels></group>