By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth volleyball team fell from the unbeaten ranks when it dropped a four-game decision to Southwest Star Concept in Okabena Monday.The Panthers opened Camden Conference play by besting Dawson-Boyd in a four-game match staged in Ellsworth Thursday.Ellsworth, 4-1 overall, plays in Ivanhoe tonight, at the Central Lyon Tournament in Rock Rapids, Iowa, Saturday and hosts Edgerton Monday.SSC 3, Ellsworth 1The Panthers received their first loss of the season when they traveled to Okabena for a non-conference match Monday.The home-standing Quasars snapped Ellsworth’s four-match winning streak by topping the Panthers in four games."I think we might have been a little overconfident and we got put back in reality," said Panther coach Jason Langland. "It was a combination of things that hurt us. SSC was a scrappy team that played well defensively, and we didn’t attack very well in the match."SSC built some momentum by pulling out 25-20 and 25-22 wins in the first two games.Ellsworth battled back to secure a 25-21 victory in Game 3, but SSC settled the issue by notching a 25-16 win in Game 4.Laurel Drenth played a strong match that featured seven blocks, seven kills and six digs for the Panthers.Marla Groen charted five set assists, Brittney Kramer recorded seven kills and Amanda Deutsch was 14 of 16 serving with two aces.Ellsworth 3, D-B 1The Panthers opened Camden Conference play in a successful way by posting a four-game win over Dawson-Boyd in Ellsworth Thursday.The Blackjacks are a gifted team with talented athletes, but the Panthers were able to rise to the challenge and defeat D-B by playing good defense and serving the ball well."D-B probably was the best team we’ve played so far," said Panther coach Langland. "They have a lot of good athletes on their team. Our blocking and our defense at the net were the keys for us. We served the ball well, too. We only missed four serves in three games. In rally scoring, that’s huge."Ellsworth got off to a good start by securing 25-21 and 25-18 wins in Games 1 and 2.D-B battled back to notch a 25-16 victory in Game 3, but the Panthers met the challenge by ending the match with a 25-19 in Game 4.Amy Tiesler led EHS with 12 kills in the match. Laurel Drenth added 10 kills and eight blocks.Kramer was 20 of 21 serving with two aces for the winners. Deutsch led EHS with 11 digs, and Lynette Drenth set the pace with 12 set assists.
