Volleyball: HHS smacks Warriors and Kahoks, falls to Cougars
The Highland High School volleyball team sandwiched straight-set victories over Wesclin (25-18, 25-12), on Tuesday of last week, and Collinsville (25-18, 25-22), on Monday, around a straight-set defeat to Breese Central (2-17, 25-18) last Thursday.
The Lady Bulldogs (3-1) opened Mississippi Valley Conference play at Civic Memorial, on Tuesday evening, which was after the News Leader’s deadline. Next up, Highland hosts Triad Thursday before competing in the Granite City Tournament on Saturday.
In the win over Collinsville, Highland junior Alex LaPorta had a strong all-around match after contributing a match-best 15 digs to go along with a seven kills, a team-high seven service points, two aces, two blocks and one dig.
Senior Hayley McSparin, an Alabama pledge, and junior Madison Wellen also had solid all-around matches. McSparin topped the Lady Bulldogs with eight kills to go with three blocks and five service points, while Wellen supplied six kills, six digs and three service points.
Also contributing to the victory were senior Sami Beyer with 15 setting assists, six digs and three service points; junior Sara Beth Wiegman with 10 digs, one kill and one service point; senior Alyssa Anderson with five service points, three blocks and two digs; and freshman Emmy Nyquist with four digs.
In the loss at Breese Central, McSparin and LaPorta led the way with seven and six kills, respectively. Both also chipped in a block. LaPorta also added four digs whiel McSparin also had three service points and two digs.
Beyer handed out 17 assists and dug up six balls while also leading the Lady Bulldogs with five service points and her team’s lone ace. Senior Cassie Lamzik recorded a team-high eight digs.
Also registering stats in the loss were senior freshman Claire Diercks with three kills and one dig; Wiegman with six digs and one kill; Anderson with two kills, three digs and three service points; and Wellen with four service points, three digs and one kill.
In the win over Wesclin, McSparin showed the way with a match-high 12 kills and a match-best blocks. Her performance was even more outstanding because her dozen kills came off 18 attacks, which gave her an amazing .667 hitting percentage. McSparin also had two digs.
Topping the Lady Bulldogs in their respective categories were Beyer with 20 setting assists and nine digs, and Wiegman with 11 service points and her and Wellen with three service aces apiece. Wiegman also added seven digs and she and Beyer each had two kills.
LaPorta recorded seven kills, six digs and one block while Wellen also registered four kills, four digs and eight service points, and Anderson had 10 service points, two aces, five digs and two kills.
In addition, Diercks added two kills, one dig and one assist and Lamzik had one dig.
This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Volleyball: HHS smacks Warriors and Kahoks, falls to Cougars."