Tigers roll to Hawk-10 win in clean sweep of Harlan
The Red Oak Tigers climbed to 16-5 overall and 4-1 in the conference with a 3-0 win over Harlan (9-15, 3-3) Tuesday, Oct. 1. Red Oak’s Chloe Johnson was recognized in front of the home crowd for surpassing her 1,000th career kill before the game.
“That’s a huge accomplishment this early in the season,” Red Oak head coach Angie Montgomery said. “Chloe’s had a phenomenal season.”
The Tigers swept the Cyclones 25-16, 25-18, 25-11, with Lennon O’Neal earning the match-winning point.
“Our bench is really deep,” Montgomery said. “I have a lot of confidence that I can put anybody in at any time. They are just such a great team together.”
C. Johnson added a dozen kills (.476 efficiency) and a pair of aces to lead the Tigers in scoring. She also had five digs and was perfect at the service line.
Sophie Walker finished with a double double with 10 kills, 12 digs, and added two aces; Allie West five kills, four digs, one ace; Lexi Johnson four kills, seven digs, two blocks; Tory Carrick three kills, two assists, one dig, two blocks; Ellie Rengstorf two kills, 12 assists, four digs; Lennon O’Neal one kill; Chloe DeVries four assists, two digs; Abbey Jones 17 assists, eight digs, one ace.
Denison
Red Oak defeated Denison-Schleswig 25-22, 25-21, 21-14, surprising the fans with a slow start in the first two sets.
The Tigers were down by as much as seven in the first set with the score at 19-12 before rattling off a 3-0 run, followed by two 5-0 runs to win.
The second set had the Monarchs up to four before the Tigers got on the board, and Denison extended the lead to 10-3. The Tigers began to rally with small runs before knotting the score at 13. The teams traded points through 19 before Red Oak gained control and won the set.
In the third set, The Tigers gained control early and dominated the court in their usual fashion.
Walker had a double double to lead the Tigers with 13 kills, 14 digs; C. Johnson had a dozen kills, six digs; L. Johnson 10 kills, nine digs, two aces; West six kills, eight digs, two blocks; Rengstorf four kills, 11 assists, six digs, one block, one ace; Carrick one kill, two assists, one dig; DeVries 13 assists, two digs; Jones 16 assists, eight digs, one ace.
JV
Red Oak JV defeated Denison 2-1 with set scores of 25-15, 21-25, 15-6.
Freshmen
Red Oak freshemen fell to Denison 2-1 with set scores of 15-25, 28-26, 15-10.
Tri-Center
The Tigers went undefeated at Tri-Center on Saturday, Oct. 5, winning the tournament 5-0.
During the day, Walker landed her 1,000th kill.
The tournament was a six-team round robin format, and Red Oak did not drop a set.
“On top of a stellar day of volleyball, we saw a lot of great individual performances and were able to try some new things in preparation for the final part of our season,” Montgomery said. “A huge highlight of the day was when senior outside hitter Sophie Walker reached her 1,000th kill in the final match of the day. Throughout the day, I was impressed with our setters’ ability to balance our offense and give all hitters a great chance to gather kills for our team. We know that the deeper into our season that we get, the more we will need to lean on that balanced attack, and it is very fun to see the girls have fun and play good, solid volleyball.”
Red Oak defeated Atlantic 21-4, 21-10; Lawton Bronson 21-18, 22-20; Tri-Center 21-11, 21-18; Westwood 21-12, 21-10; and IKM-Manning 21-12, 21-18.
“I continue to be impressed by this team and their drive to reach their goals,” Montgomery said. “We played seven matches this week, not dropping a set all week long even through the fun and excitement of homecoming week. I am so proud of how hard they work in practice to achieve their goal and enjoy watching them apply their scouting and their goals in games.”