Lady Indians advance, Lady Panthers head home
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ DuQuoin volleyball, playing in the Marissa Tournament, lit up the gym Thursday evening with two victories. DuQuoin won Pool C and will play the winner of Pool D (Valmeyer) on Friday evening in the second match of the evening. (approximately 5:30)
In the first match, DuQuoin defeated Lebanon 21-12 and 21-17 to take the match. The starting players for DuQuoin were: Rebekah Maddox, Keawna Anders, Jessica Hirsch, Kelsey Toler, Megi Jones, Michaela Brown, and Ashley Ward (Libero). Later in the game Jessica Martin substituted. In the first game, DuQuoin started slowly and with several miscues. The score was 0-3 in Lebanon's favor. Anders' serving got DuQuoin back into the game at 2-3. A nice "dink" by Lebanon gave them the edge at 3-5. Jones spiked and the ball came back to DuQuoin. A Toler spike gave the Indians some needed enthusiasm. DuQuoin tied the score at 5-5. Lebanon got the ball back in their court. A Brown dink tied the score at 6-6. With Toler serving DQ moved the score to 8-6. Maddox had a smart hit in the sequence and a beautiful kill. A Lebanon time out was called. Maddox blocked a Lebanon spike making the score 10-7. Lebanon served a net ball, but immediately got the ball back. Maddox again blocked. Hirsch serving ran the score to 14-9. Lebanon got the ball back, but Maddox had a massive spike to return the ball to DuQuoin. A DuQuoin miscue gave Lebanon back the serve at 15-10. Jones had a large spike and Anders had some nice bumps/digs in the back row to keep DuQuoin in the series. In the final points, Lebanon miscues moved the score to 18-12. Toler serving ran the score to 20-12 on a Maddox kill. The game ended on a Lebanon error 21-12. Points on serve were Toler with 7, Hirsch had 2, Jones had two points and Anders had one. Maddox had four kills, Brown 2, Toler 1, and Martin 1.
In game two, the Indians continued to put the pressure on Lebanon. The starting line up was the same as game one. Lebanon served first and scored immediately. A DuQuoin spike tied the score at 1-1. A Lebanon spike was blocked by Maddox and Anders, but went out of bounds. Lebanon took the score to 1-3. Maddox spiked hard to bring the score to 3-3. Anders' serving and Lebanon errors brought the score to 7-3. Maddox had another block in this series. Lebanon called a time out in an attempt to change the momentum of the game. Anders continued to serve well for the Tribe. Maddox had another block and a large spike. Score now at 9-6. Jones had some nice digs in the back row and Maddox continued to spike well at the net. Score now at 11-8. DuQuoin missed several spikes to allow Lebanon back into the game. An errant bump from the back row brought Lebanon to 12-11. Toler spiked an "in your face" one to the ground. DuQuoin mistakes let Lebanon tie the score at 13-13. DuQuoin's offense appeared a bit frazzled until Toler hit a massive spike to take the lead at 14-13. DuQuoin had a hard time scoring the last few points. The game ended on a net serve by Lebanon. DuQuoin pulled out a 21-17 victory, winning the match 2-0.
The two game totals had Maddox with 11 kills, Martin with one, Toler with 4, and Brown with 5. Digs recorded were Ward with 5, Brown 3, Anders 8, Jones 4, and Martin 1. Jones led in assists. DuQuoin then moved on to play the Mehlville Panthers (near St. Louis).
DuQuoin defeated Mehlville 21-15 and 21-14 in the second match of the evening. DuQuoin's record is at 8-1. The starting line up was the same as the first match. Mehlville started off quickly with the help of a DQ bump out of bounds and several errant spikes. They forged into the lead at 0-4. Ward's serving brought DQ back to a 4-4 tie. Two DQ spikes failed and the score was 5-7. An Anders/Toler block brought DQ to 6-8. Another DQ error in spiking gave the service back to Mehlville. They capitalized on that error and moved to 8-10. DuQuoin finally got a break as Toler blocked. A Brown spike tied the score at 10-10. Panthers then scored on an out spike and several good serves. DQ with a well placed ball got the serve back. Maddox put down a spike and tied the score 12-12. DuQuoin went ahead on a Panther miss and a four hits call. Maddox hit two awesome kills to move DQ ahead. The final point was a net serve by Mehlville. Final score 21-15.
In the second game of the match, DuQuoin got off to a fast start. With Ward serving and Maddox blocking or spiking, the Indians had the score at 5-1. DuQuoin was then called for four hits. A Panther dink scored for them. Jones had a big dig, but the Panthers came back to score at 5-5. DuQuoin got the serve back, but immediately gave it up. Maddox had an out spike and the Panthers moved ahead at 6-8. A dink by DuQuoin's Martin returned the ball to DQ. Chandra Gilliam serving tied the score for DuQuoin. DuQuoin moved ahead on some scrappy play. A net call on the Panthers gave the Indians the lead at 12-9. Anders scored on a spike as Brown served. A Toler spike could not be handled by Mehlville. DuQuoin pulled further ahead at 16-12. Another Toler spike added another point. Anders put down a spike to run the score to 19-12. Ward served and Maddox dinked to end the game at 21-14.
Points in this game were Hirsch 5, Gilliam 4, Ward 4, Brown 1, and Anders 1. Total kills (both games) with Maddox 10, Anders 4, Toler 5, Brown 2, and Martin 1. Brown had 9 digs, Ward had 7, and Anders had 7. Jones led with 11 assists.
Coach Isaac Miller was extremely happy after his team won two matches and was looking forward to playing in the finals on Friday evening.
LADY PANTHERS FINISH 0-3: Pinckneyville failed to leave the Labor Tournament with a victory, falling 21-17, 24-22, 15-11 against Marissa yesterday afternoon.
Maddy Keith had 6 kills and 3 blocks for the Lady Panthers, Haleigh Hagood added 3 kills. Sara Malanowski had 9 assists to lead the way, katie Duvardo finished with 10 digs.
The Lady Panthers return to action still looking for win number one on Tuesday night at Benton.
Doug Daniels also contributed to this story.