The O’Neill Public Jr. High teams traveled to Ainsworth for volleyball action on Saturday, Sept. 26.  After a whole week with no action, the girls were ready to get on the court and show their skills, and they did just that. 

In their opening match, O’Neill faced Valentine and came out strong in both sets.  The Eagles held the lead many times, but just couldn’t quite finish, although the scores ended up in favor of Valentine 26-24 and 25-21.  O’Neill 7th grade serving was led by Alejandra Vergara who served for 9 points, 6 of which were ace serves.  Other contributors were Tiffany Finkral (5 pts/1 ace) and Rahtaya young (5 points).  Arianna Dugan and Brandi Taylor added an ace a piece to the Eagle efforts.

Although O’Neill dropped to the loser’s bracket, their next round was a bye, therefore leading to a matchup for 5th place against West Holt. 

Again the Lady Eagles showed improvement in their net play and setting up of the volleyball.  “The girls continue to impress me with their improvement and their coach-ability,” said Coach Morrow.  “It is great fun to watch them continue to improve game after game.” 

The Eagles nearly won set 1, in a tight 25-23 battle.  O’Neill led most of set 2, but relied on strong serving of Natalie Brodersen to seal the 25-17 victory.  In the third set, the O’Neill 7th grade volleyball team earned their first win of the season by defeating West Holt 17-15.  Once again Alejandra Vergara led all scorers, serving 10 points with 4 aces.  Hannah Zeeb earned 7 scoring points, 5 of which were aces.  Natalie Brodersen served for 7 points with 2 aces, while Rahtaya Young scored 4 points with 3 aces.  Rounding out the scoring was Arianna Dugan with 3 points. 

Congratulations to the O’Neill 7th grade team on their 5th place finish in the 2009 Ainsworth Junior High Volleyball Tournament.