Lady Zizzers volleyball tops Logan-Rogersville in four sets
The West Plains Lady Zizzers defeated the Logan-Rogersville Lady Wildcats 3-1 (25-12, 26-24, 22-25, 25-14) on Sept. 24, at West Plains High School.
Natalie Ell paced the attack with 13 kills, and Delani Wahome added nine. Emersyn Brunson led the defense with 19 digs while also serving a team-high five aces. Aubrey Tidwell dished out 31 assists to go with 10 digs, and Violet Hafer contributed 14 digs.
West Plains Head Coach Hailey Beazley noted the team served aggressively, which led to a higher number of service errors but ultimately secured the win.
"We had more service errors than normal last night, which prevented us from getting in a good groove, but I was proud of the way we stayed the course and got the job done even though it wasn't our best night," Beazley said.
Lady Zizzers tennis battles experienced competition in busy stretch
The West Plains girls tennis team faced a demanding stretch of experienced opponents in mid-September, focusing on developing a young roster. The Lady Zizzers dropped a string of dual matches to Forsyth (8-1) on Sept. 17, Poplar Bluff (9-0) on Sept. 21, and both Carl Junction (9-0) and Logan-Rogersville (9-0) on Sept. 22. West Plains also gained valuable court time at the round-robin Branson Tournament on Sept. 19, finishing fourth against Savannah, Branson and Lebanon.
Despite the team scores, Head Coach Jordan Letterman highlighted several competitive individual performances. Libby Peugh secured a No. 6 singles victory against Forsyth, and the No. 1 doubles team of June Sanderson and Addi Simpson pushed Savannah to a tiebreaker at the Branson Tournament.
Missing multiple varsity players later in the week, younger athletes were asked to step into larger roles. Sanderson took on the No. 1 singles spot against Poplar Bluff, falling narrowly 8-5, while Kinley Green and Melak Tekle moved up the ladder. The No. 3 doubles team of Peugh and Green also played a tight 7-5 match against Rogersville.
"Right now, we are learning how to turn those competitive points and games into complete matches," Letterman said of the week's action. "We have a group that is still learning what it takes to compete at this level, and every opportunity we have to play a strong team gives us something we can take back to practice and improve on."
