Coalfield Falls to Van Buren in Fierce Volleyball Battle

By Terry Futrell

Physical exhaustion! Emotional turmoil! Exhilaration! No, I’m not talking about the players – these were the experiences of the many fans who came out to see the volleyball match between the Coalfield Lady Jackets and the Van Buren County Eaglettes Monday evening. One can only imagine what the players experienced in what was possibly the best, purest volleyball match ever played in District 3A. While the score sheet will show that Van Buren defeated Coalfield 3-1, the real winners were the fans from both communities who experienced perhaps a once in a lifetime volleyball opportunity.

High school volleyball matches cover the range from rather softly hitting the ball across the net hoping the other team will make a mistake (boring) to full-bore attack mode where each team is trying to drive the ball down the other team’s throats (very exciting). When you think about it, volleyball can be the most vicious high school sport played. This match was 100% attack mode by both teams. It was the kind of action-packed match where you dared not take your eyes off the court for even a second, else you might miss something significant.

For 90 minutes, these two teams went at each other with only short breaks between sets. Several players never took a break from the action. No other high school sport requires this amount of physical effort and mental concentration from every player for such an extended period.

While Van Buren won the match 3-1 in terms of sets, the match was much closer. In total points scored, Van Buren’s margin was 98-84. For the last three sets of the match, Van Buren’s point margin was only 73-68.

The real scoring difference between the teams was in the number of kills. A kill is simply a scoring play resulting from a hard spike or a tip across the net to a spot unreachable by the defending team. Van Buren scored 48 kills in the match. Of these, 27 kills were credited to Van Buren’s star sophomore Greta Rigsby, who is without question the top player in District 3A. Coalfield scored 27 kills in the match, 15 of which were by sophomore Alexis Morrison. Morrison had missed the previous two weeks of volleyball activity with an ankle injury.

Coalfield trailed in the first set 4-0, then fought back to take an 8-4 lead with Carlee Kees serving. Van Buren tied the score at 10-10 and went on to win 25-16, with Chloe Hillis serving 11 consecutive points.

Coalfield jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second set, again with Kees serving. Emma Scoggins served five straight for the Eaglettes to tie the set at 6-6. The score was tied three more times before Van Buren pulled ahead 19-13. Coalfield fought back to tie the set 23-23. Taylor Landrum blocked a Van Buren spike at the net to give Coalfield a 24-23 advantage. The Lady Jackets closed out to win the set 25-23.

The third set was a real nail-biter. Once again, Coalfield took an early 10-4 lead and held on to lead 14-9 before Van Buren began their comeback. The Eaglettes finally tied the score at 19-19, then pulled ahead 24-20. Coalfield mounted a comeback and closed the gap to 24-23 before Van Buren scored again to win the set 25-23. Van Buren had nine kills in the set compared to eight kills for Coalfield.

The teams tied the score seven times in the fourth set before Van Buren took the lead 12-11. After Van Buren pulled ahead by five points at 16-11, Coalfield closed the gap to one point at 21-20. Van Buren then scored four in a row to win the set 25-20 and the match 3-1. Rigsby scored ten kills in the set, while her teammates added seven additional kills. Coalfield scored eight kills, with Morrison credited with half of those.

With the victory, Van Buren remains undefeated in District 3A play. Coalfield’s record is now 9-3, with two of those losses coming at the hands of Van Buren.