From Coach Bonnie Keeps: The Mt. Carmel Jr. High volleyball team is on a roll! They traveled to Flora coming in seeded first and played Carmi first. They played very clean the first set with minimal errors and it showed in the score 25-10. The second set we tried not to let down, but we did make many more hitting and serving errors, but still got the win 25-22. 

Carmi did play scrappy defense and we had some long volleys. 

For the stats Lyla Keepes 8 aces, 5 kills, 1 dig, Kyleigh Smith 1 ace, 1 kill, 2 digs, Evie Sellers 1 ace, 2 kills, 1 dig, 1 block, Riley Hershey 3 kills, 1 block, Kinley Harris 5 assists, Leah Lewis 2 aces, 4 assists, Mylee Farmer 2 digs. 

Next up we faced Olney for the Championship. They beat Flora as a 2 seed. This was the 5th time we played Olney this year. To start the first set we came up with a big lead 14-3 at one point. Olney was fighting hard for each point, and was able to close the gap some but we won the set 25-18. Our serve receive was very solid and helped us put up more attacks. The second set we started out with some hitting errors and did get down by a few for the first time. We then picked up the focus and made some great attacking series and spread the margin 12-6. Then we hit a serving freeze where we went through the whole rotation missing serves. Some nervous energy was possibly creeping in, and this let Olney back in the set. There were many long volleys the second set, but our girls fought hard for it and finished the set winning 25-22.  There was so much excitement with our student section flooding out onto the floor celebrating the win with a big dog pile in the middle. It was a well deserved moment for these girls. They have worked so hard with 2 hour practices, many open gyms prior to the season start, mini camps, and some taking private lessons with Syreeta.  The extra gym time paid off! 

Takeaways facing Olney Lyla Keepes 7 kills, Kyleigh Smith 2 aces, 1 dig, Evie Sellers 1 ace, 1 kill, 1 block, Riley Hershey 4 aces, Kinley Harris 1 ace, 7 assists, 1 block, Leah Lewis 4 assists, Mercedes Dillard with 1 kill, 1 dig, Mylee Farmer 1 dig. 

We will head to Pinckneyville next Saturday the 25th to face Waterloo at 11 o’clock.  

! also want to thank Nichole Loudermilk for capturing all of moments this season for the girls.