ARGYLE – Down by five points early in the decisive fifth set, the East All-Stars broke off on a 21-9 scoring run to rally past the West All-Stars for a 3-2 victory at the second annual Six Rivers Conference Senior All-Star Volleyball Showdown hosted by Argyle High School on Wednesday, June 28.
Barneveld’s Teagan Pickarts registered a match-high 12 kills to go along with nine digs and two aces and Juda’s Sara Jordan chipped in with six kills, 12 digs and four aces to lead the East, who avenged a 3-0 loss to the West from last year with their come-from-behind effort.
Shullsburg’s Hattie Rennert smashed a team-high nine kills and had four digs, while Highland’s Karen McMannes tallied 12 assists and 10 digs for the West.
The East opened the match with a 26-24 win, but the West answered back with a hard-fought 25-21 win in set two to even the match at 1-1.
The East went up 2-1 with a 25-12 decision in set three, however the West struck right back with a 25-17 win in set four to force a winner-take-all fifth set.
The winning team through the first four sets each manned the north side of the court, and it appeared that the pattern would hold up as the West started off strong on the north side of the net in set five after scoring the first three points and jumping out to an early 9-4 advantage.
However, the East quickly fought back to even the match at 11 all and eventually grabbed the lead before pulling away for a match-sealing 25-18 win.
Playing a final prep match on her home floor, Argyle’s Kayla Butler-Paulson recorded six kills and dished out a match-high 15 assists for the victors.
Black Hawk’s Sammy Lovelace added five and two aces, while Pecatonica’s Liz Tisch chipped in with five assists, three blocks and three aces. Argyle’s Megan Godfrey provided three blocks, a kill and a dig, and Black Hawk’s Elizabeth Holland had a block for the East.
Belmont’s Caitlyn Gilbertson registered four kills, a match-high four blocks and three assists for the West, while her Braves’ teammates Maddie Rand and Dakota Meylor-Seeber tallied 12 and six digs, respectively, in the match.
Benton’s Lily Carver had four digs, three kills, three blocks and an assist, and fellow Zephyr Kayla Doughtery contributed two digs, a kill and an assist for the West.
All the money raised by the Six Rivers Conference during the event will be donated to the charity of the winning team’s choice.