Keota

Needing full sets to determine a victor the Keota Eagles stood firm on their home court and earned a playoff victory by defeating Lone Tree, 3-2, with final scores of 25-16, 22-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-9 on Oct. 16. 

Having played each other twice in the regular season, with each team scoring one victory, this postseason game served as the rubber match, but those first two contests were a best of three while this was a best of five. 

Just like their two previous matches this ended up being a highly competitive contest. 

After taking a 2-1 set lead the Lady Lions were on the verge of claiming victory and advancing to the next round, but the resilient Eagles won set four and five to close the book on the game and Lone Tree’s season. 

For the Eagles this win improves their record to 10-13 and they will battle the North Tama Redhawks (23-15) in the Class 1A Region 7 quarterfinals. 

With this loss Lone Tree’s season comes to an end. They end the year with a 3-21 record. The Lady Lions will say goodbye to four seniors: Hogan Eden, Lilly Mills, Layla McMartin, and Bailey McGrew. 

Cedar Valley Christian 3, Lone Tree 1

In their last contest before plunging into the postseason, the Lady Lions hosted the Cedar Valley Christian Huskies on Oct. 12. 

The Huskies emerged victorious from this contest, defeating Lone Tree, 3-1, with final scores of 25-19, 23-15, 25-22, 25-21. 

Senior Ellie Fulkerson led CVC on offense, scoring a team high 21 kills. She was one of two Huskies to reach double digit kills, with the other being fellow senior Ella Crittenden who had 12 kills. 

Setting up these kills was junior Addie Fulkerson who led CVC with 34 assists. 

For Lone Tree junior Rylee Shield led the Lady Lions with 11 kills. Fellow Junior Cate Sexton had the second most kills on the team with eight. Junior Hayden Yoder accounted for a team high 26 assists.