By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth volleyball team snapped out of mid-season slump by posting a pair of road wins since last Thursday.The Panthers recorded a four-game win in Lake Benton Thursday before prevailing in five games at Edgerton Public School Monday.Ellsworth, 11-7 overall, plays Lakeview in Cottonwood tonight. The Panthers play at the Harris-Lake Park (Iowa) Tournament Saturday.Ellsworth 3,Edgerton 2The Panthers climbed out of a 2-0 hole to defeat the Flying Dutchmen during a five-game match played in Edgerton Monday.After sporting a 24-19 lead in Game 1, Ellsworth was outscored 8-1 the rest of the tilt and took a 27-25 loss.The stunned Panthers fell 25-16 in Game 2, but rallied to secure 25-16, 25-20 and 15-12 wins to complete an improbable comeback late in the match."It showed a lot of composure to fall behind 2-0 and come back to win," said Panther coach Jason Langland. "We really didn’t do anything different in the last three games. We just quit making mistakes. Instead of hitting the ball out of bounds, we stayed inside the lines."Amy Tiesler had a big match for Ellsworth. She recorded 20 kills, 10 digs and completed 14 of 16 serves with two aces.Amanda Deutsch had 10 digs and was 12 of 12 serving with one ace. Brittney Kramer completed all 25 of her serves and charted seven kills. Laurel Drenth charted 10 digs, eight kills and four blocks. Rosie Lewis led the team with six blocks. Lynette Drenth added 28 set assists to the winning cause.Ellsworth 3, LB 1The Panthers evened their Camden Conference record at 2-2 with a four-game victory in Lake Benton Thursday.Ellsworth, a team which had dropped six of its last seven matches entering play Thursday, was looking for a boost in confidence that could be provided by winning a match on the road.The Panthers accomplished their mission by winning the first two games of the match and bouncing back from a loss in Game 3 to take the fourth game."We needed this one," said Panther coach Langland. "We worked hard on our coverages in practice this week, and we did a lot better job. We also mixed our hits up, keeping LB off-balance."EHS rolled to a 25-11 win in the opener before securing a 25-20 win in Game 2.The Panthers opened a 20-14 lead in the third game, but the Bobcats rallied with an 11-1 run to post a 25-21 victory.Ellsworth bounced back in the forth game to post a 25-15 win.Kramer completed all 18 of her serves and recorded 10 blocks and 10 kills for the winners. Lynette Drenth also played a strong match for Ellsworth, completing 24 of 25 serves with 14 points and two aces, and leading the Panthers with 22 set assists.Laurel Drenth led EHS with 14 kills, while Lewis added nine blocks to the cause. Tiesler and Marla Groen charted 11 digs each.
