Sigourney goes winless at Waco tourney

The first volleyball competition of the season didn’t do Sigourney any favors as they ended up losing both of their matches for a quick exit in Waco’s tournament on August 20. Granted, Sigourney wasn’t dealt an easy card having to play West Burlington, who ended up winning the tourney, and Van Buren, who finished third.

Sigourney didn’t fare well against tough competition as the Savages tried to work their way through difficult stretches as they were down for most of the night. A lot of it had to do with not having the team chemistry or identity of the team established yet with only two weeks of practice to prepare themselves for tournament play.

“I thought we would pass better than we did. Offensively, we have more hitters up front and have height with the ability to block,” Sigourney coach Chris Carter said. “We had moments of that but our passing struggled, as did our defense and serve receive.”

Sigourney matched up with West Burlington in their first match of the night and the Savages were dealt a quick 5-21 blow in the first set. They made some adjustments and saw a little more success on the court, but still lost the second set 12-21.

“We just didn’t get a chance to use our offense like I had wanted to,” Carter said. “I think it was nerves and a lack of communication to go along with trying to find our groove early. We aren’t using a libero and that’s something different than what we’ve done in the past.”

A similar result when Sigourney played Van Buren as they took another tough 5-21 loss in the opening set. The Savages made a game out of it however in the second set, keeping it close early and putting together a run in the middle but just couldn’t close it out. Van Buren hung on to hand Sigourney a 16-21 loss, eliminating the Savages from placing at the tournament.

“When we get our block together up front that helps our defense,” Carter said. “A lot of it came down to confidence, going after the ball and not overthinking things. I talked to them about playing with more fire and energy because I thought we could’ve came back and won that game.”

Up next for Sigourney was a match against rival Pekin on August 28. Last year, the two teams split wins in the regular season and then Pekin took the rubber match by knocking off Sigourney in Regional play.

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