Lady Panthers defeat Civic Memorial in two games, notch first MVC win under Siemer
BY AARON OTTIS
SPORTS EDITOR
JERSEYVILLE – It’s no secret that the Jersey Community High School volleyball team has fought through some growing pains the last few seasons. Jersey had only two wins last year, and they both came late in the season.

This year, Jersey met last year’s season wins total two weeks into the season, and exceeded that number last night with a 25-18, 25-21 win over their biggest foe, the Civic Memorial Eagles.

“We played pretty well tonight,” Jersey head coach Bob Siemer said. “We had lost to those guys in the Alton Tournament, though we did play them pretty close.”

Siemer knew going into Tuesday that his team had a good chance to finally nab that elusive Mississippi Valley Conference win. Jersey was unable to do so last season, in Siemer’s first year as the head coach, and started this year’s conference schedule 0-4.

After Monday’s 25-21, 25-19 loss at Wood River, the Lady Panthers needed to make a big turnaround on short notice.

“We just did not play very well,” Siemer said. “We should have beaten them.”

The Lady Panthers are now in a position to improve upon last year’s MVC finish. In getting no wins last year, Jersey finished in last place. Civic Memorial is now 0-5 in the MVC, and Highland is 2-3. Waterloo and Mascoutah are likely out of reach.

Jersey will face 4-0 Waterloo Thursday night, but has one more match with Triad, Highland and Civic Memorial remaining. The Lady Panthers will also play Calhoun and Greenfield.

“We will see CM again on their court, and we will probably get them in the first round of the Regionals,” Siemer said. “We are likely to be the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds. It is nice to be able to beat them now and have something to build on later this year,”

Jersey saw good production across the board. Jennifer Bierman had six assists and seven digs. Kelsey Thomas had 12 points and 19 digs. She also had 17 of 18 serves in bounds, which was a key to the Lady Panthers coming from behind to win the second game.

Shelby Smith added seven kills and three points. Shelby Woelfel had 9 kills and five blocks, and Jade Linder had four points and five blocks.

“We really have been concentrating on getting our serves in and receiving the serve better,” Siemer said. “I don’t think we had very many bad serves, and we had quite a few aces tonight. We did a nice job blocking tonight. We had a little trouble in the first game, but we had some girls come over to help in the second. That changed things around. We are getting better. We lost to these guys before, and we got them tonight. We are getting better.”

The junior varsity team won their third match of the season by winning 21-25, 25-15, 26-24.

The Lady Panthers varsity is now 3-14, and will travel to Waterloo Thursday night.

Senior Night is scheduled for Tuesday against Mascoutah, and will begin at 6 p.m.

Jade Linder blocks a ball at the net during Jersey's victory over CM at George Havens Gym. Linder had four points and five blocks for the Lady Panthers. Below, members of the JV team celebrate after winning in three games. Aaron Ottis/thejcstar.com