THS opened pool play with a 2-0 sweep against Leavenworth (25-12, 25-10), but then fell to Junction City, 2-0 (25-13, 25-19). Tonganoxie wasn’t able to get much going against Eudora, as Cardinals swept the match with identical 25-10 set victories.

The Chieftains bounced back and swept Shawnee Mission North, 25-17, 25-15.

Eudora and Junction City advanced out of pool play to the championship tournament. The Top 2 teams in the other pool were Gardner-Edgerton and Ottawa.

GEHS swept Junction City in one semifinal, 2-0 (25-8, 25-21) and Eudora handled Ottawa in two in the other semifinal match (25-18, 25-11).

Eudora won the Tonganoxie Invitational in 2 sets against Gardner-Edgerton. EHS won the first set, 25-21. Set 2 needed additional play, but the Cardinals eventually won, 30-28.

Ottawa won the third-place match with a 25-14, 25-15 sweep of Junction City.

Blue Valley Southwest swept Tonganoxie in the fifth-place match, 25-13, 25-18. Piper won the seventh-place match with back-to-back 25-15 set victories against Shawnee Mission North.

“The girls started off strong on Saturday against Leavenworth,” co-coach Ginny Reischman said. “We struggled in our next two matches against Junction City and Eudora, but finished pool play with a win against Shawnee Mission North.”

Tonganoxie is now 9-14 on the season. Tonganoxie suffered home losses Sept. 21 against Manhattan (25-13, 25-11) and Mill Valley (25-8, 25-9) and then a road loss Sept. 22 at Ottawa, 2-1.

Tonganoxie did pick up victories Thursday at home against Pleasant Ridge and Leavenworth. The night included a three-set win against the Rams. Tonganoxie won the first set, 25-18, and then PRHS responded with a 25-17 victory in Set 2. The Chieftains slipped by the Rams, 29-27, in the final set. Tonganoxie defeated LHS, 25-12, 25-16, in the other match.

Reischman said the team continues to work hard in the face of adversity.

“We are adjusting to yet another injury on the team,” she said. “Reece Schmidt went down last week against Ottawa, which meant another new rotation for this young team.

“They have had challenges thrown at them since Week 3 and I am proud of them for their continued hard work and improvement each week.”

THS faced Baldwin on Tuesday at Chieftain Arena after The Mirror’s print edition. THS also competes at 5 p.m. today at Silver Lake against SLHS and Wamego. and then is back home Thursday against Eudora. That match is expected to start around 6:30 p.m.

Tonganoxie’s next tournament is 8 a.m. Saturday at the Ottawa Invitational. Other teams at the tourney are Basehor-Linwood, Bishop Miege, Olathe North, Ottawa and Rock Creek.

After that, THS has Frontier League matches at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against Louisburg and two days later at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8 against Bonner Springs at Chieftain Arena.

Jim Mitchell