Scott City tops Oran to win its own tournament title

Both Scott City's and Oran's volleyball teams came into Saturday's Scott City Tournament struggling a bit over the past few weeks.

Each team won its last game before the tournament, though, and both teams came out playing well Saturday. The Rams got the last laugh, defeating Oran 25-16, 25-22 in the championship.

"It's nice to come in here and be able to win on your home floor and take home some hardware," Scott City coach Laura Ort said.

Scott City grabbed a big lead in the opening game and held off some late Oran charges to win. The second game was a different story.

Oran led 4-2 at the start and stayed close throughout. Scott City looked to take control after an ace made the score 17-13, but Oran rushed right back to close within 17-16 on an ace of its own. The Rams edged back in front 19-16 before Oran used a timeout.

The timeout did little for Oran, as Scott City furthered its lead to 23-18 and forced another timeout. This time, Oran responded to close the score to 23-21. A kill attempt just wide pushed the score to 24-21, and Scott City closed it out from there.

"They started to kind of come together in the second game and at least play some ball," Oran coach Amanda Dannenmueller said.

Kacie Cartwright led the Rams with 11 kills in the finals. Lindsey Amick had 13 assists and five aces, Jenny Glency had three blocks and Abbie Cook added two kills and two blocks.

"I thought we played well all day," Ort said.

Even without taking home the first-place trophy, Oran was able to pick up five wins on Saturday and gain some much-needed momentum. Oran swept pool play matches over Chaffee, Campbell and the Twin Rivers junior varsity, then defeated Malden and Twin Rivers JV again in tournament play.

Carmen Duncan led Oran with 35 kills on the day, while Courtney Nenninger added 21 kills and 13 blocks. Amanda Eftink had 20 kills and 19 blocks.

"We're finally starting to play ball," Dannenmueller said.

With only a couple of weeks left in the regular season, Oran's big Saturday has put it withing striking distance of one of its team goals. Oran improved to 12-13-1 after Saturday's play.

"Our goal is to finish our regular season above .500," Dannenmueller said.

Saturday's tournament also gave the Rams a needed jolt. Scott City's five wins moved its record to 21-8. Cartwright led the way with 30 kills in Scott City's first four matches. Amick added 37 assists in pool play.

"We're playing a lot better," Ort said, "definitely a lot better than we had the last couple of weeks."