Prairie Central ends IPC season with win over Pontiac

Gracie Edelman ran the offense and helped anchor a solid defensive effort for Prairie Central as the Hawks concluded their regular season with a two-set victory over rival Pontiac in an Illini Prairie Conference volleyball match at PTHS Thursday.

Edelman registered a double double with 18 assists on offense and 12 digs on defense as the Hawks left town with a 25-17, 25-18 decision.

Kerigan Fehr and Alexandria Hari were top offensive performers for Prairie Central (13-16) with 9 kills and 6 service points, including a pair of ace serves. Hari also had 6 points from behind the line and contributed 6 kills. Bella Mekarski chalked up 6 kills, as well.

Prairie Central head coach Kirsten Smith pointed out the movement on the court as being a key factor in the Hawks' success.

Carley Chambers had 11 digs.

“The girls came out to play,” noted Smith. “They all played with so much energy and spunk that it was really fun to see.”

Pontiac was able to manufacture some offense, as well. The Indians (10-21, 1-8) finished with 20 kills. Alix Robinson found a groove early and finished the night with 7 kills to pace the Tribe. Bailey Masching had 5 kills and Cadence Helms recorded 3 kills.

Keara Smith chalked up 17 assists and Elena Krause served up 3 aces in helping the offense.

Paige Collins led the defense with 9 digs while Smith had 8 digs and Masching came up with 6 digs. Helms made 1 block.

Pontiac needed three sets to take the freshman match 25-16, 17-25, 15-10. The Tribe claimed the sophomore match in a little easier fashion with a 25-22, 25-15 decision.

HOIC Tourney

MACKINAW — Top-seeded Tri-Valley will be meeting No. 2 Eureka in Saturday's final after each advanced with semifinal victories of the Heart of Illinois Conference volleyball tournament Thursday.

It appears that everything is falling into place according to the seeding at the meet being held at Dee-Mack High School. Playing for third place will the third and fourth seeds Tremont and Fieldcrest. The fifth-seeded Titans of El Paso-Gridley will meet No. 6 Lexington in the fifth-place match.

Flanagan-Cornell, the seventh seed and a first-round upset victim, is in the consolation final against LeRoy.

Fieldcrest and EPG opened play on Day 2 with the last quarterfinal match. The Knights, who are the fourth seed in the tourney, came away with a 25-13, 25-22 win to advance to the semifinal round against Tri-Valley later in the evening.

Kaylin Rients had 10 kills and 1 block and Kaitlin White collected 15 assists for the Knights.

Kyra Carr delivered 7 kills for the Titans and Emma Whitcomb had 10 assists. Aubrey Phillips made 3 blocks.

In the championship semifinals, Tri-Valley took care of Fieldcrest with a 25-21, 25-17 victory to move into the title round. Five vikings had 3 or more kills, led by Haley Warfel's 10.

Rients led Fieldcrest with 8 kills and 1 block. White had 8 assists.

In the other semi, Eureka had a seemingly easy time with Tremont in a 25-13, 25-16 win to claim the other spot in the championship match. Ella Asmus had 9 kills for the Hornets. Whitney Rumbold had 11 kills for Tremont.

In the fifth-place bracket, Heyworth nearly continued its upset ways before Lexington stopped to the Hornets. The Minutemen checked Heyworth 25-12, 22-25, 15-8 to reach the fifth-place final. Lyla Tate had 6 kills for Heyworth.

Avery Poppe led Lexington (19-13) with 10 kills and Reagan Haase had 9 kills. Emma Bennett chalked up 14 assists and Mary Doll had 12 assists.

Poppe also had 15 digs and Vivian Wright dug up 14 attacks. Makayla Ziegler led the net defense with 2½ blocks.

El Paso-Gridley bounced back from its earlier loss to bounce host Dee-Mack 25-23, 25-23 thriller. Phillips had 7 kills and Whitcomb garnered 9 assists. Addi Swadinsky 8 kills Dee-Mack.

Flanagan-Cornell scored a win over Fisher in the consolation semifinals to advance to the left-side final opposite LeRoy.

The Falcons (17-16) handled Fisher 25-17, 25-16 as Kortney Harms chalked up 9 kills, 6 assists and 10 service points (3 aces). Grace Zimmerman had 7 kills and Raegan Montello had 11 assists.

Zimmerman and Marley Highland each had 1 block while Kindermann came up with 7 digs and Montello had 5 digs.

LeRoy defeated Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 26-24, 25-14 in the other consolation semifinal and will face Flanagan-Cornell for that title. Carlee Clauneh had 8 kills for the Panthers. Savannah Shumate led the GCMS attack with 5 kills.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Prairie Central ends IPC volleyball season with win over Pontiac