Lone Tree was unable to hand either the Wapello Arrows or WMU Wolves their first conference loss this past week, but the Lady Lions did finish the tough stretch playing their best volleyball. 

Senior Riley Krueger led Lone Tree with seven kills at Wapello, but the Arrows took all three sets, 25-16, 25-13, and 25-14. 

“At Wapello it was about staying focused and on task, which we did not,” Lone Tree coach Lora Sieverding said, “and finding our groove seemed impossible. 

“Sometimes no matter what we do, it’s just tough to refocus. While Wapello is a good team, I really feel we were not at our best and should have competed much better with them. We played sloppy, which is code for no focus. We are a young team with athletes who are still developing their competitive mindset, but it is improving — which is a positive takeaway.”

Hogan Eden had a team-high 14 digs in the match and Ella Buser finished with 11 assists. Alex Dautremont had four kills and her fellow sophomore Rylee Shield had a kill and a block. 

Quinn Veach and Emily Hemphill combined for 13 kills and 27 digs for the Arrows, who defeated Lone Tree for a 10th consecutive time.   

Just 48 hours later, Lone Tree (2-11) was back home to face Winfield-Mt. Union (14-5). 

“If comparing to our play at Wapello, it should have been a very ugly match,” Sieverding said. “However, we learn quickly, which is something that really stands out with this team. Our first set took a bit to get into our rhythm, but as the night went we continued to gain confidence and really rallied competitively.”

WMU took the first set 25-6, but the Lions were more competitive in 25-15 and 25-18 losses to close out the night. 

Krueger led the team with seven kills again, and Buser finished with nine digs and seven assists.  

“In these types of matches we always set goals that are totally unrelated to the score — they are about our controllables,” Sieverding explained.”For WMU, the team was asked to try something new — whether it was an attack, a read across the net, communication… basically anything.”

Buser, a senior setter, and sophomore middle hitter Cate Sexton responded to the challenge, connecting on three slides resulting in kills.   

“For sure that was confidence building for us all,” Sieverding said.” While we lost against WMU, we felt good about what we did on the court. We competed, gave 110%, and just stayed in the game with focus and determination until the final whistle. We achieved our team goals, so we were successful.”

Senior Lindsay Werbach was 11-of-11 serving for the Lady Lions, who finished above 90 percent as a team. Sophomore Hayden Yoder was 7-of-8 with an ace. 

Lone Tree is one of four site hosts for SEISC tournament pool play on Thursday, September 24. Mediapolis (8-8), Central Lee (6-8) and 2A No. 4 West Burlington (20-4) will also be competing for two spots in Saturday’s tournament quarterfinals at Southeastern Community College in Burlington.