Sweeping a pair of home matches for the first time in several years, the Parsons Vikings took down Independence and rival Labette County on senior night on Tuesday in and SEK League volleyball quad.
“It was huge to have this group of girls do that,” Parsons head coach Dara Barr-Miller said. “Our talent is great. But so is our bond. Having a close knit bond is so important. Our senior girls have brought up the younger ones. It’s something special to see. I’ve enjoyed coaching so much this season.”
Pittsburg and Parsons both won both matches they played on Tuesday. Pittsburg defeated Independence and Labette County.
Labette County swept by Pitt
In the Grizzlies’ first match of the night, they fell to Pittsburg, 2- 0 (25-14, 25-16).
Stats for Labette County were unavailable. “I think we played decently against Pittsburg,” Labette County head coach Leigh Ann Phillips said. “I felt like we came out and passed the ball well to begin with. We were getting hands on and pushing Pittsburg out of their comfort zone. We just couldn’t finish. That’s the story of our season right now.”
Parsons avenges against Indy
Taking revenge for an earlier loss to the Independence Bulldogs, the Vikings defeated Indy in two sets, 2- 0 (25-14, 25-20).
“We went out and played our game,” Barr-Miller said. “Last time, that loss, we did that to ourselves. This time, we had fewer unforced errors. We cleaned those up. That was the difference.”
Braelyn Hinman-Mitchell amassed 10 kills for the Vikings while Ayanna Robertson added eight.
Vikings rally against Grizzlies
Parsons secured its second win of the night, defeating Labette County for the fifth time this year, 2-1 (26-28, 25-17, 25-15).
The Vikings led, 23-16, in the first set before the Grizzlies mounted a massive comeback to win the set.
“We followed our gameplan of keeping them out of system and keeping it out of the hands of their middles,” Phillips said. “But then in the next sets, we didn’t keep them out of system.”
Parsons cleaned up its play in the final two sets. “Our mentality was to stay positive and just pass,” Parsons senior Cadence Manners said. “We got down in the first set and we let up a little bit. We just had to settle down and get that first pass up to put the ball down. Then our mentality was to go for the kill.”
Hinman-Mitchell and Robertson both tallied a whopping 19 kills in the match for the Vikings.
“It felt really good because all my lovely teammates got to win on senior night,” Manners said. “I got to win these with my favorite team I’ve ever had.”
Parsons improved to 16-7 overall with the two wins, putting the Vikings one game back of the No. 4 seed in the Class 4A East Sub-State standings — the top four seeds host a sub-state.
“We did exactly what we needed to do tonight to go into this last, tough stretch,” Barr-Miller said. “We really needed this momentum swing. It was nice to see the girls putting things we’ve worked on to use and executing. I’m really happy for the girls.”
Labette County dropped 9-20 overall. The Grizzlies have lost six of their last eight matches.
“We still need to get better and work on our passing,” Phillips said. “We’re right where we should be. Our effort can be better. Talking and communication can be better. We’re doing some things right. But then we get in our own heads and that’s been our detriment this season.”
Up next
Parsons played a league tri at Pittsburg on Thursday then heads to the Neodesha Tournament on Saturday.
Labette County heads to Anderson County on Saturday.
