VOLLEYBALL: DHS outlasts Sparta
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The DuQuoin High School Volleyball Team was good and a "little bit lucky" to get by Sparta on Thursday evening. The match was at home for the Indians. DuQuoin won the match 2-0 with games of 25-18 and 25-23. DuQuoin's overall record is now 17-5. This conference win makes their conference record 4-2. The Varsity win completed a "trifecta" for the Indians. Both the Freshmen Team and the Junior Varsity also won their matches earlier in the evening.
DuQuoin's Varsity starting lineup was Megi Jones, Jessica Hirsch, Michaela Brown, Ashley Ward (Libero), Kelsey Toler, Keawna Anders, and Rebekah Maddox. The first game ended in controversy with the Sparta Coach questioning an official's call. The last point had to be replayed because of an inadvertent whistle. DuQuoin prevailed and won the game at 25-18.
In the second game, Michaela Brown was injured, and had to be taken out of the game. DuQuoin was charged with a time-out. Fortunately, athletic trainer Tim Davis was at the match, and was able to administer aid to Brown. Her injury will be evaluated further tomorrow. DuQuoin had to work hard to win that second game. The final score was 25-23 on a center line violation by Sparta that ended the game.
Toler (17 kills) and Maddox (12) dominated the net for DuQuoin, with Megi Jones leading the way with 14 digs. Cassidy Rice had 12 digs, Hirsch and Ward each had 7, Anders 6.
Jones' 18 assists were tops for DHS on the evening, Jessica Martin added 8. Maddox had two blocks.
Coach Isaac Miller made these comments after the match: "The first game we started out great. We were "clicking on all cylinders." We do need to work on our second game, however. We came out flat in the second game, and we do have that tendency. But a win is a win. We got another one, and we will take them any way we can get them."
The Junior Varsity also won their match 2-1. Game scores were DQ 25-23, Sparta 25-18, and DuQuoin 25-10. The JV record is 3-5.
Bailie Caldwell led the way with 9 kills for DHS, Hailey Stewart and Kate Toler each had 4 kills. Rice had 10 digs, Jessica Phillips led the way with 7 assists.
The Freshmen team won their match 2-0 to continue their winning ways. The game scores were 21-4 and 21-13. Their record is 13-1. The Freshmen had one very noteworthy stat. Thirty nine of forty serves were good for a 97.5%. That is an outstanding percentage in volleyball.
DuQuoin's next match is October 5 against Carterville. This conference match will be at home with the freshman starting at 5:30, varsity around 7:30 p.m.