ST. JOSEPH — The Saxony Lutheran girls volleyball season got off to the best start possible, going 4-0 in the second annual Pony Express Volleyball Tournament in St. Joseph, held at the same venue as the state championship in November.
The Crusaders never lost a set over the two day event, winning four matches in eight sets in a 21-team field of some of the best teams in the state.
The Crusaders beat Cameron and Northland Christian on Friday, and beat Fatima and Rockport on Saturday.
As a team, the Crusaders had 100 kills — 12.5 per set, .247 team hitting, 145 digs — 18.1 per set, 26 aces, and 93.4 percent serving
Sophomore Brielyn Korn had 24 kills without any errors, as well as 5 solo blocks and 6 aces.
Junior Kinley Couch had a team high 28 kills.
Junior Kendall McDowell had 43 assists, 27 digs, 16 digs, and 5 aces.
Freshman Emmie Debrower had 34 digs, 55 receptions, and 6 aces. Both Debrower and Korn served at more than 97 percent.
“That was really exciting for us to be able to start our season off in such a strong way and for our athletes to kind of get that opportunity to to work hard and and put some stuff into action that we’ve been working on over the summer,” coach Dawn Ozark said.
The undefeated performance in the tournament is a great momentum boost for the Crusaders heading into the regular season. Ozark said she hopes the run is a sign of things to come for a season that they hope to end in the same arena.
“Getting into those first couple of games, you’re able to kind of see what you’re about to do and what works and what doesn’t work and kind of figure that out,” Ozark said.
