High School Volleyball
Mt. Pleasant fell to Burlington last night to begin the season 3 sets to 0. Set one belonged to the Grayhounds after a mixture of errors and service aces from Sydney Schroeder led to a 25 to 7 finish. Head Coach Logan Wall commented after the game that serve receive will be a point of emphasis in practice after last night. The Panthers battled in set two with the game being as close at 13 to 10 after Addison Clark and Alex Scott were able to get a couple of kills, but the Grayhounds again caught fire, taking set two 25-14. Again the Panthers were close in the last set being down 16 to 15 with the help of Myah Starr’s attacks; however, it was not meant to be as Burlington went on a 9 to 1 run to seal the match. Coach Wall saw moments that Mt. Pleasant can build on. The Panthers will travel to Ottumwa on Thursday, August 24th, for a Triangular.
New London will host Holy Trinity Catholic on August 31st to start their season.
Winfield-Mt. Union will host Keokuk to start the season on August 24th.
Holy Trinity Catholic will be participating in a tournament on August 26th hosted by Bondurant-Farrar to start their season.
WACO fell to Centerville last night in their first game of the tournament 2 sets to 1: 21-14, 13-21, and 12-15. In another close match, Van Buren County snuck out with a 2 set to 1 win on a 16-14 set three final. Marie Farmer had four kills for WACO. The Warriors ended the night with a sweep of Pekin by the same score 21-17 in both sets. WACO will host Hillcrest Academy on August 31st.
Van Buren County won their first game of the season as they swept Pekin 2 sets to none: 21-16 and 21-14. The Warriors will face off against Central Lee on August 31st.
Central Lee will begin their season on August 26th with their own tournament starting at 9 am.
Volleyball Rankings
Two Southeast Iowa teams find themselves ranked in Class 1A. Holy Trinity Catholic enters this year as the #2 team as the Crusaders return young talent in Mary Kate and Anna Bendlage along with Natalie Randolph, who did not get to play last season due to an injury. An early mark against this team will be the lack of depth after an injury to Reagan Holvoet.
New London is ranked 8th after coming up one set short of a trip to the state tournament last season. The Tigers will look to replace their impressive seniors in Eliana Manning, Emma Nye, Natalie Burden, and Camryn Lair. Expect Morgan Jones and Sophie Malott to step up for this squad.
High School Football
Mt. Pleasant will open up the season against Fairfield this Friday at 7:30 pm at home. KILJ will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm. Head Coach John Bowlin will be looking to stop a two-skid against the Trojans.
In other Class 3A District 4 matchups, Washington hits the road to take on Oskaloosa. Keokuk hosts Ottumwa and Fort Madison faces off against Burlington on the road.
On Friday, Danville will face off against Lynnville-Sully and Van Buren County will take on Central Lee in Class A competition. Columbus Community and Mediapolis will square off to start the season.
Winfield-Mt. Union takes on Central City in a top 10 matchup to open the season on Friday with the Wolves hitting the road.
New London will travel to take on Easton Valley with kickoff at 7 pm.
WACO will square off against Fremont-Mills on the road.
This Day in Sports History
1950 – Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in a US national tennis competition.
1965 – San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marachal hits LA Dodger catcher John Roseboro on the head with his bat causing a 14 minute brawl.
2007 – The Texas Rangers rout the Baltimore Orioles 30-3, the most runs scored by a team in modern MLB history.