The Montague School volleyball team played in the Jerry Allen Memorial Tournament at Wichita Christian School on Saturday.
It was a successful day for the Eagles, who won the eighth-grade “A” division bracket at the event.
“I played club volleyball for him in high school, so it was a bittersweet win,” Montague coach Angela Kleinhans said.
Montague defeated Christ Academy in three sets by scores of 25-17, 19-25, 25-23 for the championship.
“The team was down 19-13 in the third set,” Kleinhans said. “These girls have so much heart and love to win. It was a very fun season. Each girl on the team improved so much.”
Kleinhans called it a “determined” group of players.
Earlier in pool play, Montague defeated Electra 15-11, 15-12 and then Notre Dame 15-4, 15-8. The Eagles split matches with Christ Academy 15-11, 13-15 and Wichita Christian 13-15, 15-7.
Montague finished the district schedule unbeaten on Monday, defeating Gold-Burg 25-12, 25-5.
Eighth-grader Isabel Valdez finished the tournament with 12 ace serves.
Seventh-grader Trystin Fenoglio ended with six aces, two digs, two kills and 32 assists. Hope Howard contributed one ace block, four ace serves, 16 kills and seven assists. Mikey Jordan also chipped in to the team’s success.
Sixth-grader Averee Kleinhans recorded seven aces, 13 digs, 19 kills and three assists.
Gabby Valdez served up three aces and had eight digs and two kills. Sydni Messer chipped in with three digs and Halea Holding two. Valdez and Messer are also sixth-graders.
Laythen Medford and Jackie Hanna also played on Montague’s team this season.

The Montague Independent School District volleyball team had a special theme this year, “We dig.” This is evidenced by the team and head coach Angela Kleinhans shoveling a giant mound of dirt here. (Courtesy photo by Garner Studios/Gainesville, TX)