Tigers win Griswold championship after avenging early season loss to Glenwood
It was an exciting week for Red Oak volleyball.
The Tigers started it by winning their first Hawkeye 10 game of the year and finished by taking home the Griswold tournament championship.
At Griswold, Red Oak ripped through the competition, winning all matches by a 2-0 score, including the championship over Clarinda.
Clarinda battled Red Oak in the first game, pushing the Tigers farther than any other team had. Red Oak though won that first game, and would cruise to the championship by winning game two 25-10.
Angela Mahoney led the Tigers with 12 kills and seven digs, adding an ace. Marsden added nine assists.
In the semifinals, Red Oak beat Audubon 2-0. Much like the championship match, Audubon pushed Red Oak in game one, losing 25-22, only to lose 25-13 in game two.
Dana Marsden had 16 assists and was a perfect 14 for 14 from the serving line while Sierra Athen led the team with seven kills.
In pool play, Red Oak beat AHSTW (21-8, 21-6), Guthrie Center (21-6, 22-20) and Griswold (25-16, 25-6).
For the tournament, Mahoney led the Tigers with 30 kills and 28 digs. Janssen led the team with 8 aces, adding 22 kills and 16 digs. Marsden led the team each game in assists, finishing with 70, while adding 11 digs, eight kills and four blocks.
The Tigers remain home this week, hosting Lewis Central Tuesday and the Red Oak tournament Saturday.
Beating Glenwood
It took them longer than they would have liked, but the Red Oak volleyball team got its first conference win of the season last Tuesday night in their home opener when they defeated the Glenwood Rams 3-2.
The win for Red Oak got the Tigers back to 1-1 in the Hawkeye 10.
Red Oak found themselves in a battle throughout all five sets against the Rams.
“To be quite honest, it was what we weren’t doing,” Red Oak volleyball coach Angela Montgomery said. “We had way too many errors in the first set. We could have closed it out in three.”
The first set was a struggle for the Tigers as Glenwood jumped ahead early. Glenwood capitalized on Red Oak’s mistakes to take the first game 25-15.
“In the first set, we had five serving errors and eight hitting errors,” Montgomery said. “We gave them something. That’s just way too many points to give away.”
Glenwood continued to attack in the second set, battling to try and take a 2-0 lead on the Tigers. However, Red Oak battled on and evened the match 1-1 thanks to their 25-21 game two victory.
The Tigers used the momentum of the game two win to jump ahead in the third. They kept Glenwood from building momentum as they would go on to win 25-18 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
“What was working us was getting in system with our pass, which our pass was way too inconsistent tonight,” Montgomery said. “With that said, our hitters came up big when they needed to. We got really good leadership out of Angela [Mahoney], Brooke [Janssen] and Sierra [Athen].”
The Rams recuperated, however, battling back as they forced the match to go to a fifth game thanks to their 25-16 win in the fourth.
“They’re good hitters. They’re obviously a solid defensive team,” Montgomery said about Glenwood. “You have to really work hard for the kills that you get.”
Red Oak took the early lead in the fifth game, but Glenwood’s Lyndie VanNess and Tara Maxwell refused to go away quietly, keeping them close with their kills.
The Tigers took a 6-4 lead, thanks to a kill by Megan Sands, who had five in match. The Rams responded by scoring two points. Kaycee Clark’s kill tied it 6-6.
Red Oak didn’t give up the lead as they scored three straight points, including a kill by Dana Marsden, to take a 9-6 lead.
Glenwood called timeout to slow the rally, but the Tigers scored the next two points to jump out to an 11-6 lead. The Rams tried to rally back, but Red Oak still led 12-8 as Glenwood burned its second timeout.
Glenwood scored a point out of timeout, but Red Oak scored two more and appeared on its way to winning.
The Rams held off two match points but Red Oak held on to get the 15-11 win in the fifth game.
“They made it a little too interesting right at the end,” Montgomery said. “Eleven was a bit closer than I would have liked.”
It was Mahoney leading the way for the Tigers with 17 kills and 17 digs.
“Angela has definitely come around as far as knowing she’s a leader, she’s the go-to out there when things are in a sticky situation,” Montgomery said. “She’s done a great job of keeping her errors low.”
Athen and Janssen were the only other players for Red Oak with double digit kills as Athen had 12 and Janssen recorded 10 for the match. In addition to her 12 kills, Athen also had 11 digs and four serving aces.
Marsden had seven kills, as well as a team-high 34 assists. Mahoney had eight assists, while Sarah Behrens finished with seven.