Pittsburg volleyball starts 2-1

In their first matches of the season, the Pittsburg High School volleyball team showed what head coach Mary Packard called, good balance.
The Dragons went 2-1 in their first home quadrangular of the season, defeating Parsons 25-21, 25-15 and Labette County 25-14, 25-13 but losing to Independence 20-25, 19-25.
“We were fine with the first game jitters but, in the second game, Independence had a couple of power hitters and we could not get a hand on any blocks,” Packard said. “We had a lot of service errors and could not get anything going.”
Against Parsons, Christina Willis had eight kills and four blocks while Abby Bernhardt added five kills and Jessica Wade had three.
Megan Nance picked up two kills and setter Kelly Clark had 18 of her 49 assists.
Then, the Dragons ran into Independence, who went 3-0 in their three matches.
Bernhardt led Pittsburg with six kills and Willis added another four kills.
Wade had three kills and Nance had two while Clark picked up 15 assists.
“We learned some things by losing and it should make us a better team,” Packard said.
The Dragons rebounded against Labette County as Wade had a match-high six kills and Kathryn Montague and Nance added three kills each.
Clark had four aces and 16 assists while Nance had two aces in the win.
“We finally got in a good rhythm against Labette,” Packard said.
In all three games, the Dragons had three different kill leaders.
“I think we are pretty balanced and everyone contributes,” Packard said. “I have five hitters on the court and they all contributed in every game and that will be a big deal if we can keep that balance.
“I am glad to see that we were able to spread it out and no one person dominated any one game.”
Now, the Dragons will take on Girard, Fort Scott and Columbus in a weekend quadrangular this weekend, beginning with Girard at 9 a.m. Saturday at PHS.
“It is good to get games out of the way to meet up with the next three,” Packard said. “We are playing Girard first and the girls know that we need to be ready to play.”

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140