Stanton, Essex rubber match to take place in regional semifinals

Stanton ended Lenox’s season last week with a 3-0 straight set win in the first round of the Class 1A Region 3 tournament.
With the win, Stanton (20-15) gets to host a quarterfinal match against Essex (22-8) Tuesday night starting at 7 p.m.
It will be the third time the Corner Conference rivals meet in 2015, with both teams posting a 3-2 win earlier in the season.
Essex won the first match Sept. 29, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to win three straight sets 26-24, 25-16 and 15-11.
Stanton, though, won the rematch in the corner conference tournament’s third place match, although it appeared history would repeat itself. Stanton once again won the first two sets, only to see Essex rally to tie the score at 2-2. But Stanton pulled out the fifth set 15-12 to even the season series.
Whoever wins the rematch will advance to the tournament’s semifinal Friday night at 7 p.m. in Bedford. The winner of Tuesday’s Mount Ayr/Bedford match will be the opposition.
The tournament’s championship match is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in Clarinda.
Against Lenox, Stanton cruised to a straight set win by scores of 25-11, 25-8 and 25-11.
Junior Chelsea Weis dominated in the match with a team-high 18 kills on just 21 attempts with nine digs and a pair of blocks.
Ally Focht led the team with 20 assists, adding eight kills while posting a perfect 17 for 17 from the serving line with three aces.