Sigourney bests Montezuma to earn spot in gold bracket

Sigourney – Energy was ultimately what saved them.

Energy from the crowd, and themselves was what helped Sigourney win their first match of the South Iowa Cedar League conference tournament. It wasn’t easy though as the Savages had to battle through four sets to an eventual 3-1 lead. 

Especially in the first two sets things didn’t seem to go much in the way of the Savages. 

“We knew that Montezuma was going to come out and compete with us right away,” said Sierra Davis, the head coach for Sigourney. “We knew that we were going to have to go and seek out the open spots on the court. Montezuma was very aggressive as well. We had to be strategic in where we placed the shots. We just wanted to play our level the whole game.”

It took just a bit for the Savages to get rolling. Montezuma built an early 12-4 lead in the opening set, but that just gave time for the Savages to figure things out. 

Sigourney came striking back eventually taking a 17-16 lead in the first set. Momentum stayed on the side of the Savages and they were able to grab a 25-22 victory in the first set. 

Although the Savages led early in the second set they fell behind 22-12. From there the Savages were able to go on the attack, coming back to get close to the Bravettes, 24-23. Montezuma would close out the second set with a 25-23 win to even the match at one. 

“We weren’t playing our game like we wanted to in the first two sets,” said Josephine Moore. “We weren’t hitting like we usually do, and we weren’t getting the passing that we usually have. In the third and fourth sets we started to get back into our game a lot more, and that’s what helped us win those two sets.” 

From there the Savages were able to hone their attack, as well as getting their block to work which helped the Savages eventually close out the match. 

“We adjusted our defense to play more on the deep corners,” Davis said. “Our left back and middle back got stuck a few times early on waiting for the hard attacks. So we moved them back into the deep corners for hitting. Offensively we were able to have Bailey (Gretter) start to push the open spots on the left side and that really worked for us.”

The Savages won the third and fourth sets by 25-11 scores to move into the gold bracket which started on Thursday night.