'Hounds sweep through tourney, improve to 19-2

IOLA -- Fort Scott Community College's volleyball team swept through the Allen Tournament here over the weekend to improve to 19-2.

Fort Scott, which has won 13 consecutive matches, has won at least 19 matches in each of Lindsay Hill's four seasons as head coach. Prior to her hiring, the Greyhound program had won 19 of its previous 147 matches from mid-season 2006 to 2010. Hill's record at FSCC as of this summary is 86-42.

The 'Hounds, ranked No. 15 in the NJCAA Division II poll, won every one of the 12 sets they played this weekend, During their 13-match winning streak, Fort Scott has been taken to four sets in only three of them. They haven't been taken to five sets since a 3-2 loss to Division I Paris, Texas, at the Vernon Tournament on Aug. 30, which just happened to be the Greyhounds' last loss.

In their first match Friday afternoon, Fort Scott swept another Division I opponent, Dodge City, 25-22, 25-10, 25-14. Molly Hothan, the 6' 3" sophomore transfer from Pittsburg State, was credited with 15 kills while Julia Stringer, last week's Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division Player of the Week, had 9 kills and Shelbey Baker had 8. Kortney Blaufuss dished 39 assists. Terina Harris, a two time Eastern Division Defensive POTW this season, had 24 digs while Emily Bruce came up with 10.

Fort Scott, a Division II school as are all of the conference's Eastern Division teams, is 4-1 against Division I competition this season with the only loss coming to Paris. They've also beaten Seward County, Pratt and Frank Phillips.

Friday's second match saw a 25-14, 25-16, 25-16, sweep of East foe Neosho County. Hothan had 11 kills while Stringer had 10. Blaufuss recorded 34 assists. Harris came up with 16 digs and Brandi Huesman added 11.

The 'Hounds swept Independence Saturday morning, 25-19, 25-12, 25-12. Stringer had 10 kills, Blaufuss 29 assists and Harris 14 digs.

In the final match, Fort Scott beat Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 25-13, 25-20, 25-15. Hothan had 15 kills while Stringer contributed 12. Blaufuss handed out 37 assists. Huesman led in digs this time with 14, followed by Harris with 13 and Bruce with 11.

The Greyhounds play a conference dual against Labette Wednesday night. Match time is set for 6:30 p.m. at Arnold Arena.

Fort Scott has recorded at least 19 victories in each of the four seasons Lindsay Hill has been head coach. A look at the Greyhounds' record each season under her tenure.

* -- Record as of Monday night.

Over the previous five seasons before Hill's arrival, it took 147 matches for the Greyhounds to win 19 times.

* -- Fort Scott's record for the entire 2006 season was 4-24 and over the entirety of this five-season period, it was 21-134 over 155 matches.