MONTICELLO — River Ridge outside hitter Bridgette Myers slammed down 15 kills and Benton setter Montanna Burmeister served up six aces to lead the West All-Stars to a sweep over the East in the inaugural Six Rivers Conference Senior All-Star Volleyball Showdown hosted by Monticello High School on Thursday, June 30.
The West locked up the victory in the best-of-five match by winning the first three sets, 25–16, 25–19 and 25–14, and then went on to outlast the East, 31–29 and 15–12, in sets four and five, which were played for fun.
Burmeister registered two of her six aces during a six-point service run at the start of set one to get the West All-Stars off to a fast start. When she was done serving, the West was up 8–1 and the East never got closer than six points the rest of the set.
Myers scored four kills in the opening set for the West, while Belmont’s Brook Knebel added a tip kills and Potosi’s Maddie Hawes served up an ace. Black Hawk’s Kayla Sigafus had four kills and her Warrior teammate Aleigha Sigafus tallied three kills for the East.
Pecatonica middle hitter Britt Miller recorded three early kills in set two to send the East out to a quick 10–5 lead; however, following a tip kill by Highland’s Bailee Rose, Hawes served up six consecutive points– with three straight aces at one point to put the West ahead to stay at 12–10.
Miller added two more kills to keep the East in the match, but the West got a kill and a block from Potosi’s Taylor Bloyer and an ace and a kill from Myers to open up a 23–16 lead.
The East fought back within four points, but a kill by Shullsburg’s Jada Hicks got the West to game-point and Hawes served up the game-winner to seal a 25–19 win and put the West ahead 2–0.
Burmeister and Myers got the West rolling in set three, alternating aces and kills during an eight-point spurt that erased an early 1–0 East lead.
Rose and Shullsburg’s Paige Hauser each tallied two kills to put the West ahead 16–6, however the East fought back with an 8–1 to cut the deficit to 17–14. Barneveld’s Kelsee Fargo had an ace during the run, while her Golden Eagles’ teammates Jenna Wright and Taylor Owens each notched a kill. Owens also recorded a block.
After the West got a sideout on a kill by Cassville’s Bailie Becwar, River Ridge’s Sydney Bloom served up the final seven points– with a pair of aces– to seal the match with a 25–14 win. Hauser closed set three out with her fourth kill of the night.
The match continued through five sets with the West pulling out wins in each one to finish 5–0 on the night. A Burmeister ace finished off a wild, see-saw 31–29 decision in set four, and the West put down a late East uprising to secure a total sweep with a 15–12 win in set five.
Rose and Bloyer each finished with three kills in the first three sets, while Hawes had four aces and two kills for the West, who recorded 33 kills and 13 aces as a team.
Kayla Sigafus finished with six kills for the East, who tallied 22 kills and five aces in the first three sets. Miller had five kills and Aleigha Sigafus scored four, while Fargo had two aces.
Money raised by the Six Rivers Conference during the event wwill be donated to UW Children’s Hospital according to Monticello volleyball coach and event organizer Scott Smice.
Black Hawk head coach Rachel Wolff said that many of the coaches in both the East and West have talked for several years about putting on a league-wide All-Star game similar to the Six Rivers basketball games, which have been played during the summer for the past 11 years.
Smice added it took the effort and cooperation of all the leagues’ coaches to get the event planned and coordinated, and he was pleased with the turnout in the first year of the event.
The Six Rivers volleyball coaches are planning to rotate the location of the event each year, alternating between an East school and a West school, with the host school deciding where to donate the funds in the name of the Six Rivers Conference.
