Chieftains have trouble in big-name tournament
The Tonganoxie volleyball team entered its home tournament Saturday at 4-1, but the Chieftains couldn’t get on a roll as the host school.
THS finished the day 2-3, dropping the team to 6-4 overall after losing to 5A Gardner-Edgerton, 6A Manhattan and 5A Great Bend. Those three teams finished the nine-school tournament as the top three teams respectively.
The day started with a win against Perry-Lecompton (15-2, 15-7), but the Chieftains then lost to Great Bend (15-9,15-6) and concluded the first pool play. In the second round of pool play determined by records, Manhattan defeated THS 15-1, 15-9. The Chieftains bounced back with a win against Basehor-Linwood (15-9, 15-4) in the second pool play.
Tonganoxie then started the tournament with a quarterfinal match against Gardner-Edgerton, last year’s fourth-place finisher in Class 5A. The Chieftains got out to a 6-3 lead, but the Trailblazers, led by tournament MVP Cindy Flemming, came back and won 15-8. They won game two 15-9 and Tonganoxie was knocked out of the tournament.
“They have a solid team,” THS coach Tiffany Parker said. “Cindy Flemming was all over the place.”
Tonganoxie sputtered against three strong teams, such as Manhattan, which came into the tournament 15-2. The Indians are now 20-3. Despite those teams’ records, the Chieftains had hoped for wins.
“It was a frustrating day for everyone involved,” Parker said. “It was a peaks-and-valleys day. We were stuck in the valley a little too long.”
Parker said senior Andrea Korb and junior Laura Samuels had strong performances. Samuels wants to look toward the team’s next matches.
“We need to keep our heads up about everything,” Samuels said. “We need to support each other and play as a team.”
The Chieftains head to another tournament Saturday at Ottawa after matches Tuesday at Leavenworth against Immaculata and Basehor-Linwood.
Ottawa will present another large tournament, but Parker said the team could compete with most teams.
“We showed signs of ‘yeah, we can hang with people,'” Parker said.
All-tournament team
Cindy Keely Great Bend
Cindy Flemming Gardner-Edgerton
Aimee Eisman Tonganoxie
Lindsey Gray Olathe East
Whitney Trigg Gardner-Edgerton
Melissa Conrad Manhattan
Lindsay Shineman Olathe East
Jill Waltsak Piper
Katie Kennedy Manhattan
Andrea Korb Tonganoxie
Tournament MVP
Cindy Flemming Gardner-Edgerton
Best Defensive Player
Cindy Keely Great Bend