The South Central Lady Cougars put up late set comeback attempts but came up just short in each as they suffered a two set loss to Okawville 18-25, 20-25 in the Championship Game of the St. Elmo 1A Sectional on Thursday night. After getting a quick couple of points to open the first set, South Central fell behind 13-4. The Lady Cougars were unable to get any sustained runs and after slightly closing their deficit down to 16-10, Okawville opened their lead back up to 10 points, 23-13. South Central’s front row attack began finding some holes and put together a run that closed it up to a 23-18 game. However, Okawville was able to use a block and a kill to end the first set. The Lady Cougars found themselves trailing early again in the second set, 7-2, and after the teams again would trade points and side outs, South Central trailed 18-9. A kill off a block by Kennah Hiestand and a tip kill from Bailey Wodtka set off a Lady Cougars run and they cut their deficit in half punctuated by a Mya Schaal kill and a Okawville hitting error off a South Central double block had the Lady Cougars down just 20-16. With B. Wodtka at the service line and able to get a pair of aces along with a pair of Okawville hitting errors, South Central tied the set up at 20-20. The Rockets were able to take advantage of a service error to kick off a run and put up five straight points to close out the set as South Central took the heartbreaking loss. The Lady Cougars end the season with a record of 26-9.
South Central Statistics:
Annie Ruholl – 1 assist, 12 digs
Sophie Wodtka – 2 kills, 13 assists, 1 dig
Bailey Wodtka – 2 aces, 3 kills, 6 digs
Maddie Peddicord – 1 kill, 8 digs
Mya Schaal – 7 kills, 1 dig
Emmie Ruholl – 3 digs
River Yingst – 1 kill, 5 assists, 1 dig
Kennah Hiestand – 3 kills
