For The Tribune

MEDORA

Despite a strong start, the Medora volleyball team couldn’t muster a win against Eastern (Pekin) on Tuesday.

Eastern bested the Hornets 13-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-14 in the four-setter.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Medora stormed out of the gate with a commanding win in the first set 25-13.

In the first set, Medora scored on six consecutive serves to put the Hornets up 16-8.

Alli Carney had a kill and a diving save while Megan Weddell recorded a kill and an ace to help ensure the win.

In the second game, Eastern senior Emily Eisenback put her team back on top.

She recorded six kills, a couple dinks that scored, and she scored on five consecutive serves.

Despite some nice kills by Kailen Flynn, Weddell, and (Alli) Carney, the Hornets couldn’t recover, and lost 25-15.

In the third and crucial game, with the Hornets leading 6-4, Pekin scored on seven straight serves to make it 11-6.

The Hornets were rattled but settled down after a timeout.

Medora fought back to make it 18-17 thanks to two kills by Alli Carney, but with Eastern’s star Eisenback serving, Pekin scored six straight points and won on a score to win 25-22.

“We start out great, come out strong, and then we get a couple of mistakes under our belt, and fall apart,” Hornets coach Sara Todd said. “We can’t get down on ourselves, we’ve got to keep our heads up. We were fully capable of winning this game.”

Todd was also displeased because Eastern scored on many tips besides Eisenback’s kills.

Leading servers for the Hornets were Flynn’s 11 of 11 with one ace, Weddell made 18 of 19 with two aces, and Carney made 15 of 17 with one ace.

The team finished 70 of 77 with six aces.

Carney led the hitting unit with 24 of 27 and with nine kills, Flynn went 36 of 43 with eight kills and Weddell mustered 22 of 26 with five kills.