Eagles finish second in TRL pre-season tournament

MOUND CITY — Uniontown’s volleyball team, which won only 12 matches all of last season, went 4-2 here Saturday as they finished second in the Three Rivers League Pre-Season Tournament.

“We were at the point in our practices that we needed to play someone other than ourselves,” Uniontown head coach Jackie Hall said. “I saw some great things from all out players.”

Northeast went 0-5 on the day and was unable to advance from pool play.

Uniontown was in Pool B and opened play with a 25-19, 25-9 sweep of St. Paul. Karleigh Schoenberger had 6 kills. BrisStokes handed out 12 assists and served 3 aces. Maddie Ard had 7 assists and 3 kills.

Marmaton Valley beat Uniontown in three sets in the second match, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19. Ard had 9 assists and 8 kills for the Eagles. Stokes dished 5 assists.

The Eagles swept Altoona-Midway, 25-13, 25-13, as Sivanah McAnulty served 4 aces. Stokes had 6 assists while Ard had 5. Danielle Howard picked up 4 kills.

Uniontown then beat Yates Center, 25-21, 25-20. Ard had 8 kills, 7 assists and 2 aces. Stokes was credited with 8 assists. Howard had 4 more kills.

In the final match of pool play, the Eagles swept Jayhawk-Linn, 27-25, 25-21. Ard had 6 kills, dished 7 assists and served 5 aces. Howard had 4 kills, Stokes 8 assists and Lauren Shinn 2 solo blocks.

Uniontown and Yates Center finished tied atop Pool B with 4-1 records but the Eagles’ win over the Wildcats put them into the championship match against Pool A winner Chetopa. Ironically, Marmaton Valley finished fifth in the pool and lost a tie-breaker to St. Paul for the final berth into a placement match.

In the championship, Chetopa stayed undefeated on the day with a 25-16, 25-18 sweep. Ard had 6 assists and 4 kills. Stokes handed out 5 assists and served 2 acres. Shinn had 4 solo blocks. Howard finished with 6 kills.

The Eagles also played at home Tuesday night in non-league matches with Erie and Girard. Those results will be provided in Saturday’s edition.

Northeast lost to Crest, 25-11, 19-25, 25-11; Pleasanton, 25-20, 25-16; Southeast, 25-18, 25-12, Chetopa, 25-10, 25-19; and Oswego, 25-7, 25-17. The Vikings face Galena and Chetopa Wednesday at Galena.

Southeast took third over Yates Center. Oswego beat Jayhawk-Linn for fifth and Pleasanton swept St. Paul for seventh.