Eagles sweep; top seed at Sub-State

PLEASANTON -- Uniontown's volleyball team improved to 27-10 here Tuesday night with a sweep of Marmaton Valley and Pleasanton in non-league matches against Three Rivers League rivals.

The Eagles will return here Saturday as the No. 1 seed in the Pleasanton Class 2A Sub-State Tournament as the sweep allowed the Eagles to maintain a better winning percentage than second-seeded Colgan (24-10). Even just a split Tuesday would have made Colgan the top seed.

The Eagles began the night with a sweep of Marmaton Valley, 25-13, 25-10. Mandie Ridge had 6 kills and Britney Stokes picked up 13 assists.

In the second match, Pleasanton won the first set but Uniontown came away with a 22-25, 25-9, 25-17 win. Ridge had 12 kills while Stokes dished 21 assists.

"I was very pleased with the team's performance," Uniontown head coach Jackie Hall said. "We put ourselves in some tough situations in the first set of the Pleasanton match. Pleasanton came out strong and we did not respond to the best of our abilities. But I was proud of the way the team came back and won the next two sets. It is sometimes very difficult to come back and get those wins after dropping the first set."

Pleasanton will use both of its gymnasiums for Saturday's Sub-State Tournament. Uniontown will play the first match in the north gym at 2 p.m. against Yates Center (7-25). The other match in that half of the bracket will have No. 4 Madison/Hamilton (14-15) taking on TRL member Oswego (16-18). The semifinals for this side will be at 4 p.m. in the north gym.

Colgan starts off its half of the bracket with a match against seventh-seeded Howard-West Elk (7-22) at 2 p.m. in the south gym. That will be followed by the match between third seed Sedan (17-16) and Pleasanton (15-17). The semifinal will be in the south gym at 4 p.m.

The championship match will be played in the north gym at 5 p.m. The winner of that match advances to the Class 2A State Tournament at Emporia Nov. 1 and 2.

In other Sub-States involving Three Rivers League teams:

* -- Jayhawk-Linn is the No. 2 seed at the Southeast Class 3A Sub-State at Cherokee while Northeast will be No. 8. The Jayhawks (32-4) will face Galena (11-22) in the first round. The will take on the winner of the match between third-seeded Humboldt (24-9) and Riverton (12-2) in the semifinals.

Southeast (33-4) is the top seed and will face Northeast (4-28) in the first round. The winner faces the victor of the match between No. 4 Erie (20-15) and Cherryvale in the other semifinal.

* -- St. Paul and Marmaton Valley are in the six-team Lebo Class 1A-Division I Sub-State. St. Paul (18-14) is seeded fourth and will take on Southern Coffey County (13-19) in the first round. The winner will face top seed Waverly (28-8) in one semifinal.

Marmaton Valley (21-14) is the No. 3 seed and will take on Marais des Cygnes Valley (8-19) in the first round with the winner going on to face Lebo (23-11) in the other semifinal,

* -- Three league teams will be in the Chetopa Class 1A-Division II Sub-State, which has five teams. Top-seed Argonia (31-5), second-seeded Chetopa of the TRL (10-22) and third-seeded TRL member Altoona-Midway (6-24) all drew byes.

The only first-round match pits No. 5 Crest of the TRL (2-31) against Longton-Elk Valley (2-25). The winner faces Argonia in one semifinal wile Midway and Chetopa will battle in the other.