Lady Rams Take Pana/Shelby 3rd

Cumberland Upsets Invite Apple Cart

JOHN CURTIS - Daily Union Sports Editor

Shelbyville volleyball, as well as the rest of the Pana/Shelby Invite field, ran in to a Little lllini juggernaut on Saturday, spoiling a higher finish for the Lady Rams, the Pana Panthers and more.

Cumberland (19-2) beat Shelbyville (19-7) in three games in pool play, 26-24, 14-25, 15-10 and went on to claim first place in the red pool and Shelby had to settle for second. Shelbyville had to play Pana, the winner of the white pool, in the #1, #2 inter-pool match and lost, 25-15, 20-25, 15-10.

“This was a day of ups and downs in this tournament,” said Ram coach Lisa Peifer. “At times, we played very well.

Against Cumberland we came out flat and had our chances to win the first game. We were down 21-24 and came back ti tie at 24-24. At that point, we had the momentum, but couldn’t pull it out.

Cumberland was a solid team that played good defense and came hard at you from the outside and quick from the middle. The second game was totally different as we really shook them up from the service line and went at them hard on offense. Taking that game 25-14 was a big boost for us. The third game was one that we had just too many unforced errors.”

Against Pana, the Rams but themselves in a deep hole in game 1 and could only make the score look better before losing. They got momentum in the second game and forced a third game, but were really playing catch up in the match overall.

“Losing the first game really put us under the gun,” Coach Peifer said. “Each time we turned the match around. But we really needed to be more focused when taking the floor for that first game. We won the second game, but we just ran out of gas and had tired legs. Our pool, which was stronger, took a lot out of us.

“Taylor Rhodes had a great match against Pana and we actually tried a few new things against them as far as the line-up went, that ended up being pretty successful. The biggest thing was trying to get a bigger block to match up with Pana’s big kids. I moved Brittany Peifer to the right side to give us a bigger block and Cassi Killam got her timing down and got a lot of hands on the big middle’’s balls.

“Unfortunately, we fell short when our games gave out. All the kids were very tired from having to battle every game and we just didn’t have enough left to pull it out. It was a good effort on everyone’s part, just not enough to be able to put us in the championship match.”

The Rams had to salvage third place in the tourney as they took on a team they have had no trouble beating this year, Neoga, in a longer match than necessary, 22-25, 25-15, 25-10.

“We didn’t really give them much credit to be able to compete with us,” Coach Peifer said. “We created a lot of our own errors by not working hard and playing our game. We lost the first game, the first time in our three meetings. We had to dig deep and focus to take the final two games and end on a positive note.”

The Rams play Pana in the first round of the regional. Last year, Pana upset the 30-5 OVC champion Shelbyville Rams.

“We see Pana one more time,” Coach Peifer said. “So, we know what to expect.”

Pana took that #1 v. #2 win over Shelby and went to the championship match against a Cumberland team that is better than expected. The Pirates stole the title from Pana, even after dropping the first game, 17-25, 25-17, 16-14.

Cumberland also took out a strong LSA team (18-7) in red pool play, 26-27, 25-18, 15-9. The Lady Rams also bested LSA in three games, 23-25,25-16, 15-8.

“We started the day beating LSA, which was a good win for us since they had beaten us earlier in the season,” Coach Peifer said. “We didn’t play very well the first game of that match, having 4 bad serves, but then really came alive and played aggressive the next two to take the win.”

With those tough losses LSA was relegated to a 7th place game, far below their stature. They beat Marquette in a ho-hum affair, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9.

The Rams beat Marquette in pool play with ease, 25-11, 25-16.

“Everyone got to see time in the Alton Marquette match, which was good,” Coach Peifer said. “We pretty well handled them from start to finish, which kind of surprised me because they had battled the other teams pretty well. It was a good overall match for us going into the final two matches.”

Shannon Boone and Taylor Rhodes led the Rams at the net from the outside hitter position. The double net threat had 46 kills each, while Boone added 8 blocks and Rhodes added six aces. Alexis Flore and Stefanie Shanks also had six aces each in the invite.

“Shannon and Taylor led the offense along with Lexi Jarnagin at the net with some great sets from Alexis,” Coach Peifer said. “Alexis is running the floor well and getting all her hitters involved to keep the defense guessing. Hollie put up some nice sets along with playing defense well and all day served tough, leading to some long runs for us.

“Taylor Wilcox got some experience and held her own very well and Miranda Mason passed very well on service receive to help us win that second game (v. Pana).”

The Lady Rams (19-7, 5-2 Okaw) will go for their 20th win at home on Tuesday night. The Ram varsity, the JV (9-2, 6-1 Okaw), and fresh-soph (13-4, 6-1 Okaw) host Central A&M;, Tuesday night in renewed regular season conference play.

Pana/Shelby Invite

Title Match: Cumberland def. Pana, 17-25, 26-17, 16-14

3rd Place: Shelbyville def. Neoga, 22-25, 25-15, 15-10

5th Place: Williamsville def. Nokomis, 25-12, 25-21

7th Place: LSA def. Marquette, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9

Playoffs: Pana def. Shelbyville, 25-15, 20-25, 15-10; Cumberland def. Neoga, 25-11, 25-17; Nokomis def. LSA, 25-16, 25-14; Williamsville def. Marquette, 25-16, 25-22

Red Pool: Shelbyville def. LSA, 23-25, 25-16, 15-8; Cumberland def. Marquette, 25-18, 25-14; Cumberland def. Shelbyville, 26-24, 14-25, 15-10; LSA def. Marquette, 25-13, 25-20; Shelbyville def. Marquette, 25-11, 25-16; Cumberland def. LSA, 26-27, 25-18, 15-9

White Pool: Pana def. Nokomis, 25-17, 25-16; Neoga def. Williamsville, 25-20, 18-25, 15-8; Pana def. Neoga, 25-1, 25-14; Williamsville def. Nokomis, 25-23, 25-17; Pana def. Williamsville, 25-11, 25-20; Nokomis de. Neoga, 25-20, 23-25, 17-16

Ram 5-match stats: Shannon Boone 33 points, 3 aces, 46 kills, 31 digs, 8 blocks; Taylor Rhodes 57 points, 6 aces, 46 kills, 53 digs, 2 blocks; Alexis Flore 46 points, 6 aces, 1 kill, 69 assists, 31 digs; Brittany Peifer 29 points, 2 aces, 10 ills, 5 assists, 4 digs, 3 blocks; Stefanie Shanks 37 points, 6 aces, 33 digs; Lexi Jarnagin 19 kills, 5 assists, 6 digs, 3 blocks; Hollie Schultz 57 points, 4 aces, 1 kill, 40 assists, 21 digs; Cassi Killam 5 kills, 4 digs, 3 blocks; Whitney Fox 3 kills, 3 assists, 6 digs; Miranda Mason 17 points, 1 ace, 15 digs; Casey Wheeler 1 assist; Taylor Wilcox 1 kill, 1 assist, 2 blocks; Katelyn Duckett 8 points, 2 aces, 1 dig.

Pana stats: Katie Lees 35 kills, 8 aces, 12 blocks; Allison Allen 31 kills, 10 blocks; Grace Holthous 20 kills; 4 aces; Michelle Day 4 aces, Chelsea Eversole 4 aces; Hayle Gibson 6 blocks. Hali Carls 6 blocks.

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