Panthers Come From Behind To Beat Vandals
Litchfield Coach Kari Dragoo’s Lady Panthers defied the odds and captured lightning in a bottle not once but twice against Vandalia Tuesday evening, Sept. 20, in a two-set thriller that brought both Panther and Vandal fans to the edge of their seats in Simmons Gym as each team challenged every point.
Trailing 20-15 in the first set, Litchfield’s Gina Painter ended a long rally with a corner kill, however the Panthers lost possession and a point from a service error. Blair Johnson’s kill with conviction added another point but the Panther rally was cut short by an illegal hit call against them. The two teams traded possessions and points after a return error by the Panthers and an out-of-bounds serve by Vandalia’s Morgan Dagen.
Still down by three with sophomore Gina Painter at the service line, the Panthers tied the score at 23 by virtue of a serve return error, a back row kill from Johnson and a timely kill from Carlee Harmon. Litchfield took a 24-23 lead after another serve return error and number 17 Delaney Kopp came up big for Vandalia with a spike off a Litchfield block.
Litchfield was unable to return Ellika Whiteman’s serve and it was 25-24 Vandalia before Emma Walch challenged the Vandalia defense at the net and won the battle. Litchfield nailed down the 27-25 thriller with a Vandalia mishit on Walch’s first serve, followed by a set winning kill by Annika Rhodes.
In set two, Litchfield fell behind 17-10 and the question loomed in the minds of the Litchfield faithful, could they catch a second thunderbolt and ride it to victory? Yes they could and yes they did.
The Panthers climbed right back into the set and drew the score to within 20-16. The defining sequence of plays for the home team began with Blair Johnson at the service line as Vandalia’s Delaney Kopp’s attack sailed past the end line, followed by an ace from Johnson’s jump serve.
A return from Annika Rhodes found a soft landing on Vandalia’s side and a timeout was quickly signaled from Coach Haley McGinnis. A net foul whistled against the Vandals tied the score at 20 and Johnson’s jump serve landed deep and untouched for her second ace. An Annika Rhodes attack that hugged the sideline caught the Vandals off guard and fell untouched and it was 22-20 Litchfield.
Johnson captured the next two points as she changed the tempo of her serve with a skimmer that caught the top of the net and dropped in followed by another deep jump serve that was not returned.
With Litchfield leading 24-20, Morgan Dagen’s successful attack off a Panther tandem block gained a point and possession for the Vandals. With Vandalia’s Dagen at the service line, the match winning point was delivered by Gina Painter, who orchestrated a well placed tip over the Vandalia defense following a vigorous rally.
Coach Kari Dragoo received contributions from every position on the court, including an important sequence of serves from freshman Alli Frerichs, who subbed in with Litchfield trailing 18-11 in the second set. Frerichs’ jump serve found it’s place for three aces during her term of service and four consecutive points. She finished the night a perfect 6-0 from the service line. She also hustled for four digs and dished out an assist.
Blair Johnson led the team with eight kills. Other team leaders were Gina Painter who had three blocks, Emma Walch with 16 assists, Johnson with four aces, 13 inbound serves and 11 digs from the back row.
Leading the Vandals in hitting was senior Bella Austin with 10 kills. Both Austin and Ellika Whiteman finished the match with 100 percent serving accuracy. Whiteman also led in assists with 14 while Austin scrambled for 15 digs.
Metro-East Lutheran
On Monday, Sept. 19, almost one year to the day, the Lady Panthers traveled to Metro-East Lutheran with the hopes of replicating last year’s two-set win over their hosts.
The team composition of sophomores and juniors from last year’s 10-18 Lady Knights drew up their own blueprint of how they wanted this year’s match to proceed and it was apparent from the opening whistle that Coach Jenna Ward’s varsity squad was both committed and relentless in executing their plan for a 25-20, 26-24 match win.
It was a night of peaks and valleys for Coach Kari Dragoo’s Lady Panthers as they fell behind quickly in the first set, scratched and clawed their way back from a 11-4 deficit to draw the score to 16-13 but it was the closest they would come as Sarah Henke’s kill extended the Knight’s lead to 20-15. Henke played a major role in the Knight’s success as she finished the match with 24 attacks and 10 of her team’s 21 kills.
The Lady Panthers didn’t help their cause with uncharacteristic errors at critical times during the set. Trailing 24-20, a communication gaffe by the Panthers generated the winning set point for Metro-East.
Litchfield captured the first point of the second set as the Knights couldn’t return a serve from Emma Walch. The two teams traded points before Gina Painter’s short set kill regained possession and a Litchfield 8-6 lead ballooned to 13-6 before Metro’s Lexi Bozarth reversed the trend with one of her three match kills.
What appeared to be a comfortable 17-10 Panther lead dissolved as the Knights battled all the way back to knot the score at 20 and take a one point advantage after a serve return error by the Panthers. Metro’s serve return gesture tied the score at 21 and Litchfield took possession.
A center line infraction whistled against the Knights garnered point 22 for Litchfield and also prompted a timeout called by Coach Jenna Ward, but Litchfield’s Carlee Harmon did what she does best and put a block on Metro’s Sarah Henke for point 23 and a two-point Panther lead. Henke came right back with a kill and Metro-East gained possession and the serve trailing by a single tally.
Blair Johnson ended Metro’s term of service with a kill and Litchfield led 24-22 but a Panther attack extended the boundary line and the Knights were once again in business. With Rosa Sanchez at the service line, the Panthers committed a return error and Metro-East seized the final two points for the 26-24 non conference match win.
Blair Johnson was the kill leader for the Panthers with five. Carlee Harmon put up six blocks and Emma Walch led the team with 12 assists. Dig leader was Annika Rhodes with 11. Rhodes also led from the service line with a perfect 10 for 10.
Litchfield wraps up the week with Pana at home tonight, Sept. 22.
Sept. 19 at Edwardsville
Metro-East 25 26
Litchfield 20 24
Litchfield Statistics
Serves In/Out: Annika Rhodes 10/0, Gina Painter 8/0, Emma Walch 6/0, Blair Johnson 9/1, Carlee Harmon 4/1, Kendall Stewart 4/2. Aces: Gina Painter 3, Emma Walch 1, Kendall Stewart 1, Blair Johnson 1. Attack Attempt/Kills: Blair Johnson 28/5, Annika Rhodes 19/4, Gina Painter 5/3, Carlee Harmon 9/1, Kendall Stewart 3/1, Emma Walch 2/0. Assists: Emma Walch 12. Blocks: Carlee Harmon 6, Gina Painter 4, Emma Walch 2, Blair Johnson 2, Annika Rhodes 1. Digs: Annika Rhodes 11, Blair Johnson 10, Amy Frerichs 8, Emma Walch 6, Kendall Stewart 5, Gina Painter 3, Carlee Harmon 1.
Metro-East Statistics
Aces: Rosa Sanchez 3, Vivienne Runnalls 1, Grace Hopp 1, Melanie Wilson 1. Attack Attempts/Kills: Sarah Henke 24/10, Lexi Bozarth 18/3, Melanie Wilson 13/4, Grace Hopp 6/0, Samantha Disher 12/3, Vivienne Runnalls 3/0. Assists: Vivienne Runnalls 20. Blocks: Sarah Henke 1. Digs: Sidnee Schwarz 9, Rosa Sanchez 5, Melanie Wilson 4, Vivienne Runnalls 4, Lexi Bozarth 3, Grace Hopp 2.
Records: Litchfield (8-4); Metro-East Lutheran (9-11).
Sept. 20 at Litchfield
Litchfield 27 25
Vandalia 25 21
Litchfield Statistics
Serves In/Out: Blair Johnson 13/2, Gina Painter 8/0, Emma Walch 8/1, Alli Frerichs 6/0, Annika Rhodes 4/0, Carlee Harmon 4/1, Kendall Stewart 2/2. Aces: Blair Johnson 4, Alli Frerichs 3, Gina Painter 1. Attack Attempts/Kills: Blair Johnson 29/8, Annika Rhodes 16/4, Gina Painter 12/2, Kendall Stewart 11/1, Carlee Harmon 8/3, Emma Walch 6/1, Alli Frerichs 1/0. Assists: Emma Walch 16, Annika Rhodes 2, Alli Frerichs 1. Blocks: Gina Painter 3, Emma Walch 2, Carlee Harmon 1, Blair Johnson 1. Digs: Blair Johnson 11, Amy Frerichs 10. Kendall Stewart 8, Annika Rhodes 7, Emma Walch 4, Alli Frerichs 4, Carlee Harmon 1, Gina. Painter 1.
Vandalia Statistics
Aces: Emma Wodtka 1, Ellika. Whiteman 1, Morgan Dagen 1. Kills: Bella Austin 10, Livi Wehrle 7, Morgan Dagen 4, Delaney Koop 1. Assists: Ellika Whiteman 14. Blocks: Ellika Whiteman 1. Digs: Bella Austin 15, Kaylee Rosenkoette 8, Emma Wodtka 6, Morgan Dagen 5, Ellika Whiteman 4, Livi Wehrle 2, Lauren Kaiser 2.
Records: Litchfield (9-4, 2-0); Vandalia (13-8-1, 1-1).