Lenox Volleyball Adances

By Editor | October 24, 2023 |

By Tyler Peterson
The Lenox Tiger volleyball club won a pair of postseason matchups this past week to advance along the regional trail as they are now just two match wins away from state. Monday the 16th the Lenox Tigers kicked off regional play against Mt. Ayr. The Raiderettes took the first set 18-25, the Tigers took the next two sets 25-17 and 25-17, Mt. Ayr forced a fifth set by taking the fourth set by a score of 24-26, finally in the fifth and final set the Tigers and Raiderettes went back and forth before clutch kills from the Tiger hitters sealed the victory 15-12.
Offensively the Tiger rotation was balanced as the assists and kills started early and continued often throughout the five set victory. Junior Sadie Cox led the way with 22 kills, senior Gabby Robles was also in double-digits with 15 kills, senior Ava Junker had nine kills, and junior Izzy Curtis had six. The assist specialists, junior Zoey Reed and sophomore Delaney Funk, were setting up dimes all evening. Zoey led the way with 22 assists, and Delaney set up 18 successful Tiger kills.
Lenox set a season high with 17 aces, and had 91% serve efficiency against Mt. Ayr. Sadie had eight aces, Gabby had four, Delaney dropped in three, Zoey had one, and sophomore Danielle Robinson had one ace as well to round out the serving success for Lenox. Junior Aubrie Mohr didn’t have any aces, but she was a perfect 14-14 serving leading the Tiger efficiency.
Defensively the Tigers had 19 team blocks and 97 team digs. Sadie Cox had five solo blocks and five assists, and Zoey Reed had five assists on blocks. Other blocks came from Ava Junker, Izzy Curtis, and Delaney Funk. Six different Tigers had double-digit digs from their spots in the defensive rotation. Sadie Cox had a team high 29 digs, Zoey Reed had 15 digs, Danielle Robinson had 14, Delaney Funk had 13, Aubrie Mohr had 12, and Gabby Robles had eleven in the win.
Wednesday the 18th the Tigers traveled to Griswold to take on the 21 win ‘Blue Tigers.’ Griswold jumped out to an early lead in the first set and ultimately cruised to victory in that first set 25-19. As Griswold celebrated their set win the Lenox girls narrowed their focus, and stepped right back out onto the court for set number two. Lenox’s focus, led by monster games from Sadie Cox and Gabby Robles on offense, was on display for the next three sets as the Tigers won 25-18, 27-25, and 25-23 to advance to the regional semi-final! Sadie broke her own school record for kills in a match with an amazing 32 slams- Gabby Robles was great opposite of Sadie with 17 kills- Izzy and Ava each had six key kills as well. The ‘Dime Duo’ of Zoey Reed and Delaney Funk made things easy for the Lenox hitters. Delaney set up a career high 30 slams, and Zoey added 27 dimes in the win.
The Tigers were 94% from beyond the service line with five aces. Reed had three aces, Mohr had one, and Robinson had one; Funk was perfect on her eleven serves.
Defensively the Tigers had eleven blocks and 77 digs. Cox had two solo blocks, and four assists in denying the Griswold hitters. Reed led the way in the dig category with 19, Robles had 17, and Cox had 14 to headline for the Tiger defensive rotation in the huge win at Griswold.
Lenox (25-11) now travels down the regional tournament trail against St. Albert, Council Bluffs (24-11) Monday the 23rd at St. Albert High School. Tiger Pride!

The Lenox Tiger volleyball team reacts after a Sadie Cox kill gives them the 3-1 regional quarterfinal win over Griswold last Wednesday. (photo by Meg Barker)

Delaney Funk sets for Sadie Cox in last Wednesday’s regional quarterfinal win at Griswold. Funk finished the match with a career-high 30 assists and Cox had a career-high 32 kills.
(photo by Meg Barker)

Senior Gabby Robles with the match-point kill in the Tigers’ 3-2 first-round regional win over Mt Ayr. Robles finished the match with 15 kills. (photo by Meg Barker)