By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth volleyball team racked up four victories to run its current winning streak to six straight matches.The Panthers posted a four-game victory over Lakeview in Cottonwood Thursday before going 3-0 and winning the Harris-Lake Park Tournament played in Lake Park, Iowa, Saturday.Ellsworth, 15-7 overall, caps the regular season by hosting Canby Thursday before playing in Dawson Tuesday.H-LP tourneyThe Panthers recorded three straight wins to take top honors during Saturday’s tournament in Lake Park, Iowa.Ellsworth coach Jason Langland said his team didn’t play its best volleyball of the year at the event, but the Panthers were sound enough to post three-game victories over Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster, Mountain Lake Christian and H-LP to win the tourney."It was a steady performance," he said. "These weekend tournaments are tough. You can play really good or play really bad. We played good enough to win Saturday."The Panthers lost their first game of the day (14-21) to SV-RL-B before bouncing back to secure 21-14 and 15-10 wins.Amanda Deutsch completed nine of 10 serves with two aces and for points, and recorded four digs to share the team lead with Marla Groen and Amy Tiesler in the opening match. Tiesler led the Panthers with eight kills against SV-RL-B.Lynette Drenth charted 13 set assists in the opener, while Laurel Drenth completed all 11 of her serves, scoring four points and recording two aces. Brittney Kramer and Rosie Lewis added six and five blocks respectively to the winning cause.MLC nipped the Panthers 21-19 in the first game of the second match, but EHS bounced back to win the next two games by 21-9 and 15-12 tallies.Tiesler and Laurel Drenth delivered 10 and seven kills, while Drenth led the Panthers with three digs in the second match.Kramer was 10 of 10 serving with two aces and five points, and Lynette Drenth, who recorded 25 set assists, was eight of nine serving with one ace and seven points. Lewis led the Panthers with four blocks.Ellworth nipped the host school 23-21 in the first game of the final match, but H-LP knotted the score with a 21-17 win in the second game. EHS nipped the hosts 15-12 in the final game to lock up the tournament title.Kramer completed all 16 of serves, scoring nine points and recording one ace in the finale. Amy Timmer was eight of nine with three points and two aces.Laurel Drenth and Tiesler contributed seven and six kills to the winning cause, while Lewis led the way with four blocks.Lynette Drenth added 17 set assists and Deutsch four digs to Ellsworth’s effort.Ellsworth 3,Lakeview 1The Panthers raised their Camden Conference record to 3-2 with a four-game victory over the Lakers in Cottonwood Thursday.Trailing 1-0 after Lakeview pulled out a 25-21 victory in Game 1, Ellsworth bounced back in style to win the final three games by outscoring the Lakers 75-54."We came out and played well early in the first game, but we let them have it in the end," said Panther coach Langland. "Then the girls proved they can get it done when the have to. They just don’t give up. It’s nice to know we can play when we’re behind with the tournaments coming up."Ellsworth squared the match with Lakeview by rolling to a 25-12 victory in the second game before notching a 25-20 win in Game 3.The Lakers opened a 9-0 lead in the third game, but Ellsworth battled back to knot the score at 21 before using a 4-1 surge late in the contest to end the match with a 25-22 victory.Lewis led EHS at the net with 12 kills and 11 blocks. Laurel Drenth added 11 kills and seven digs to the cause, while Kramer, who was 19 of 21 serving with 10 points, contributed seven blocks to the effort.Lynette Drenth, who led the Panthers with 23 set assists, completed all 21 of her serves, scored 12 points and recorded one ace. Deutsch and Tiesler charted nine and seven digs respectively for the winners.
