Serving proved to lead the path to victory for Union (8-9, 2-2) against St. Clair (3-14-1, 1-3) Tuesday, 25-18, 25-8.
“It was very exciting,” Union Head Coach Angie Morris said. “We did very good. We just came out and played aggressive, served aggressive and hit aggressive. We had a couple of good blocks. I’m very proud of the girls.”
Union served nine aces in the match, including three on the last four points.
Emily Schroeder closed out the match with an ace, giving Union a 2-1 record in the conference.
“I think the competition we saw at Hermann last week made us a better team,” Morris said. “We didn’t win any games, but the way we played and the confidence we gained from that helped.”
Schroeder served five aces while Elli Aldrich and Rachael Bassett each served two aces.
“Emily has been working on getting that toss right,” Morris said. “She’s definitely an aggressive server.”
And when St. Clair managed to get the ball back over the net with anything other than an attack, Union took advantage of the situation with 16 kills.
Bassett led the way with seven while Jillian Johnston had four, Schroeder posted three and Elizabeth Birkman and Claire Stowe recorded one kill each.
Bassett and Johnston had three blocks apiece while Stowe ended with two.
Aldrich recorded seven assists. Rebeccah Kramer had four and Lauren Terschluse added one.
Macy Levvintre finished the match with three kills for St. Clair. Allison Hinson added two kills and two digs.
Emily Rogers collected five assists. Sean Deason registered two blocks. Kayla Klenke had one block.
“Sam Deason played well, along with Hinson. They work well together,” said St. Clair Head Coach Ashley Mims. “We did not move and talk to each other. We had a lot of serve receive errors.”
Union started the match out with three of its aces, one by Schroeder and two by Bassett, as it took a 5-1 advantage.
St. Clair closed to within two points, last at 8-6, before Union pulled away.
In the second game, Union jumped on top with Schroeder serving the first six points of the game. The Lady ’Cats never looked back.
Union-Owensville
Owensville (12-10, 2-2) knocked off the Lady ’Cats Thursday night in Union, 25-14, 25-23.
Bassett and Schroeder posted four kills each for Union. Maddy Weinhold recorded two while Birkman and Stowe had one kill apiece.
Bassett had three blocks. Stowe and Johnston posted one apiece.
Aldrich had seven assists. Kramer ended with five.
Schroeder served three aces while Terschluse, Bassett and Kramer each had one.
St. Clair-St. James
St. Clair won its first Four Rivers Conference match Thursday at St. James, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21.
“They girls played fantastic. Everything we have been working on this season finally came together,” Mims said. “We were moving and talking the entire game. I’m going to have some girls with some nice floor burns.”
Deason finished the contest with 11 kills. Klenke added nine kills. Levvintre had five kills.
Rogers registered 18 assists. Hinson collected 10 digs. Beth Nichols had one block.
Union-Hillsboro
On Monday, Union beat Hillsboro on the road, 25-23, 25-17.
The Lady ’Cats rallied from a deficit in the first game and breezed in the second.
“We were down by seven at one point and came back to win the first set,” Morris said. “We won the second set too. There was some adversity, but the girls remained positive and turned things around. It was amazing to watch.”
Stowe led the team with three kills while Bassett and Schroeder had two apiece and Johnston and Weinhold added one each.
Stowe had two blocks. Johnston, Bassett and Weinhold each had one.
Schroeder led the team with two aces. Bassett and Terschluse posted one each.
Kramer had six assists and Aldrich ended with three.
