Lady Pirate volleyball picks up three wins as regular season end nears

Both the Ash Grove High School volleyball team and football were in action last week, with the volleyball team winning twice, while the foot- ball team fell abruptly.
Volleyball
In volleyball, the Lady Pirates traveled to Lockwood on Thursday, Oct. 17 and came home with a straight set, 25-9 and 25-19, victory. Ash Grove hosted Marionville on Tuesday, Oct. 15 and won both games.
The Lady Pirates are cur- rently 14-9-1 on the season and were scheduled to host Bolivar on Monday and Bill- ings on Tuesday.
Ash Grove is the seventh seed in the Class 2, District 12 tournament that will be played at Stockton, starting Monday, Oct. 28.
El Dorado Springs is the top seed; followed by Skyline, Adrian, Stockton, Pleasant Hope, Butler and Ash Grove.
The tournament will open on the Oct. 28, with the semi- finals and the championship game both being played on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
Football
In football, the Pirates were shut out for the fifth time this season, falling at Marionville 49-0, on Friday, Oct. 18. Ash Grove experienced a perfect storm of setbacks for the game which included multiple turnovers, an ineffective de- fensive game and what many Ash Grove fans perceived to be home cooking from the officials.
Coming into the game, Ash Grove had a record of 4-3, while the Comets were below the .500 mark at 3-4. But the middling Marionville squad could do no wrong, rattling off 42 unanswered points in the first half against a visit- ing team that looked discom- bobulated.
“Marionville got off to a fast start taking the first offensive
play from scrimmage for a touchdown and never looked back,” said head coach Ryan Long.
No individual statistics were provided by the coaching staff at the time of this writ- ing. With the loss, the Pirates fall to 4-4 on the season and will host Sarcoxie this Friday in their final regular season home game.
Thayer leads the Class 1, District 2 standings with 56.25 points; followed by Pierce City (51.32 points), Miller (46.18 points), Cabool (37 points), Marionville (32.45 points), Sarcoxie (30.44 points), Ash Grove (29.69 points) and Dia- mond (21.18 points).