UNIONTOWN – It was a long day at the office, but the Altoona-Midway High School volleyball team did pick up its second win of the young season to conclude action in the always-tough Uniontown Early Season Volleyball Tournament here Saturday.
The Lady Jets dropped all three of their matches during pool play but regrouped to defeat Marmaton Valley in their bracket matchup to finish with seventh place in the classic.
In the seventh-place contest, Altoona-Midway had to go three sets to defeat Marmaton Valley. The Jets took the opening set 25-7, but the Wildcats bounced back to win 25-17 to force a third set, where AMHS claimed the win by a 25-9 count.
“I was proud of the girls for coming back to win that last game,” said AMHS head coach Michelle Stackhouse. “After dropping that second set, the girls could have been down, but they came back in that third set and brought home with win.
“We have plenty to work on – we especially need to work on our mental game – but this team has so much potential,” Stackhouse added.
Baxter Springs claimed the tournament championship by defeating host Uniontown 25-11, 25-18. Yates Center placed third over Christian Learning Center of Fort Scott, and Central Heights topped Pleasanton in the fifth-place match.
Altoona-Midway opened pool play dropping a tough three-set decision to Christian Learning Center. The Jets won the opening set 25-23, but then fell 13-25, 7-25.
“That was a tough loss for the first match of the day. We came out playing well but couldn’t finish,” Stackhouse noted.
AMHS also lost their next two matches in pool play, falling to Uniontown 25-12, 25-9 and also to Pleasanton 25-21, 25-8.
“The girls were not mentally prepared for the Uniontown match,” Stackhouse said. “We had a lot of communication problems. But we had a little break and that gave us time to talk about what we needed to work on. The girls came out and played much better against Pleasanton. We had much better communication and they were having fun. Even though we couldn’t pull out the win, I think that set the stage for us to have success and get the victory against Marmaton Valley.”
Senior Emmalynn Pupanek had 33 serves, 96 passes, and 11 kills during the tournament, while fellow senior Autumn Raymond had 18 services and six aces to go along with 67 successful sets. Meanwhile, freshman Sandra Morales had a great day with 14 kills, 39 sets, 92 passes, and 36 serves.
“Sandra had 23 serves just against Marmaton Valley, and 20 of them were aces,” Stackhouse said.
“I’m proud the girls came back and won that last match,” she added. “Overall we need to improve our mental game and work on communication and hustle – and I’m confident we will.”
Altoona-Midway opened its 2024 fall season on Sept. 3, hosting a triangular against Chanute Christian Academy and Liberty Homeschool Alliance.
The Lady Jets split those home matches, defeating Liberty 25-11, 25-21 but falling to CCA 6-25, 21-25.
AMHS (2-4) was scheduled to host another triangular on Tuesday, Sept. 10, with Tyro Christian School and Liberty providing the opposition. The first match was slated for 5 p.m. at Milo Peterson Gymnasium.