By John Rittenhouse
The Ellsworth volleyball team completed one of its most successful stretches of the season Tuesday with a three-game home sweep of Faith Christian.
The Panthers lost a four-game home match to Lakeview Thursday before going 2-1 and placing second at the Harris-Lake Park Tournament in Lake Park, Iowa, Saturday.
Ellsworth ends the regular season with a 5-21-1 record.
The Panthers drew the eighth seed for the Sub-Section 10 (of Section 3A) Volleyball Tournament. They will host No. 9 Faith Christian to open the tournament Monday. The winner takes on No. 1 Southwest Christian in Luverne Oct. 26.
Ellsworth 3, FC 0
The Panthers prepared for the post-season by strolling to a three-game sweep over the Falcons in Ellsworth Tuesday.
Taking on the team it will face in the first round of the sub-section tournament, EHS made a statement by posting a pair of 15-2 wins in the first two games of the match before settling for a 15-6 victory in the finale.
"We got our serves across the net, and we passed and hit well. It was a pretty good night all the way around for our girls," said Panther coach Jason Langland.
Jamie Leuthold led the Panthers at the net by recording 10 kills and four ace blocks. Laurel Drenth added five kills.
Laci DeLeeuw charted four ace sets for the winners.
H-LP tourney
The Panthers posted their first win since Sept. 18 during Saturday's Tournament in Lake Park, Iowa.
The Harris-Lake Park tournament, a four-team, round-robin event, provided some momentum for an EHS team that needed a lift as post-season play approaches.
Ellsworth won two of the three matches it played while placing second in the team standings.
"I thought we played pretty good volleyball," said Panther coach Langland. "I think the girls are starting to play more aggressive volleyball."
The Panthers got off to a good start by beating eventual tournament champion Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in the opening round. The Raiders took Game 1 by a 15-10 margin, but the Panthers pulled out 15-13 and 16-14 wins in Games 2 and 3.
H-LP then knocked EHS out of title contention by sweeping a three-game match from the Panthers in the second round. Game scores favored the hosts by 15-6, 15-10 and 15-8 counts.
The Panthers bounced back to sweep a three-game match from Faith Christian by 15-5, 15-3 and 15-11 tallies.
Jenna Groen paced the Panthers with 29 kills for the tournament. Laurel Drenth added 11 kills.
Bev Wurpts recorded nine ace sets, and Jamie Leuthold served seven aces.
Lakeview 3,
Ellsworth 1
The Panthers lost a golden opportunity to post their first win since Sept. 18 when they hosted the Lakers for a Camden Conference match Thursday.
In a contest between two evenly-matched teams, EHS was in a position to win all four games of the match. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they produced only one game victory while scoring 55 points in four games.
Trailing 3-2 in Game 1, Ellsworth went on a 10-1 run consisting of two ace serves by Bev Wurpts, two ace serves and another point by Jenna Groen, three points from Lisa Boltjes and one kill and one point from Jamie Leuthold to open a 12-4 advantage.
Lakeview, however, put together a 12-2 run the rest of the way to steal a 16-14 win.
Ellsworth, which led 5-1 early in the second game, watched the Lakers move in front 9-7 before battling back to tie the match at one win each.
An 8-2 surge featuring four kills by Groen, two points by Leuthold, one ace serve by Wurpts and a kill from Laurel Drenth gave the Panthers a 15-11 win.
The Panthers opened a 5-2 lead early in the third game when Lakeview countered with a 9-0 run that gave the visitors an 11-5 advantage.
With Groen serving a point and recording a kill, Leuthold producing two ace tips and serving an ace, and Laci DeLeeuw adding a service point, Ellsworth tied the game at 11.
An ace serve by Devon DeBerg and a kill by Groen tied the game at 13 moments later, but the Lakers scored the final two points to prevail 15-13.
Game 4 was tied at four when the Lakers went on a 9-4 run that gave them a 13-8 cushion.
Groen served a five-point run that featured an ace tip by Drenth to knot the score at 13, but the Lakers bounced back to score the next two points and record another 15-13 win in the finale.