The Prairie Valley volleyball team played fellow Montague County teams Forestburg and Saint Jo on Friday and Saturday at home.
The Lady Bulldogs were able to beat the Lady Horns for the second time this season while the Lady Panthers avenged last year’s playoff loss.
Prairie Valley and Forestburg’s game on Friday night was a rematch of both team’s season opening game. The Lady Horns won the first set in that match, but the Lady Bulldogs would win the next three sets.
With several games under both team’s belts since then, both coaches were hoping for better, more clean performances from their teams.
Prairie Valley was in control the first two sets, winning 25-9 and 25-14. The third set Forestburg got off to a great start, earning several easy points thanks to a strong stream of serving. Up 8-2, the Lady Horns were showing they were not done.
The Lady Bulldogs came storming back with solid play as the ever relentless attacks found holes in Forestburg’s defense. The Lady Horns were sending more players to the net than they have been known to do this game and are still working out the kinks.
Once Prairie Valley was rolling, it did not stop until the end as the Lady Bulldogs won 25-15 to win the match.
Emily Carpenter led the Lady Bulldogs with nine kills, 11 assists, 10 aces while libero Hailey Winkler dove for 22 digs.
Coach Jeannie Carpenter liked how her team was able to learn from the first game and did a better job handling Forestburg’s heavy serves.
The Lady Horns were led by Katie Willett who had a team high two aces, two kills and three assists. Faith Moore led the team with 10 digs. Kendall Cross and Athena Britain also had a team high two aces while Keeleigh Burnam tied with a team high two kills.
Coach Cori Hayes knows the new defensive scheme threw his team off a bit as everyone is still figuring out what they are doing, but he liked some of the early good things he saw despite the score not being as good in the first game.

The Lady Bulldogs next hosted Saint Jo on Saturday morning. With both teams trading playoff wins the previous two seasons, this game still carried some weight for an early season game despite both teams being made up of mostly different players.
The home team won a close first set 25-22, but the Lady Panthers bounced back strong to win the next three sets 25-18, 25-22 and 25-15.
Saint Jo was led by Hannah Reyling with 13 kills, Kaitline Harris with 23 assists and Kassidy Pitman with 15 digs. Kayden Skidmore added 10 kills, 10 assists and a team high three aces.
Coach Charlie Hamilton downplayed the rivalry as she is more worried about trying to get her mostly inexperienced team to mesh well together.
Picking up a four set win against the previously undefeated Lady Bulldogs, Hamilton saw some good things.
For Prairie Valley, the loss is the team’s first of the season. Carpenter led the team with 20 kills, Veronica Gutierrez led the team with 23 assists and Winkler had 33 digs.
Coach Carpenter thought her team made too many mental errors despite hitting the ball well.
The Lady Bulldogs next play at Alvord at 5 p.m. on Sept. 1. Forestburg next plays at Savoy at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 28. Saint Jo next hosts Vernon Northside at 5 p.m. on Aug. 28.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.