Lady Hounds win Spike Out Cancer Match over Craig

The Lady Hound volleyball team used its final regular season home match as an opportunity to sharpen up for tonight's all-important MEC finale with Smithville and support a Maryville resident whose been stricken with cancer.

It was a success on both fronts.

Wearing black shirts with a lime green ribbon that commemorated the first-ever Spike Out Cancer night, Maryville defeated Craig-Fairfax with identical game scores of 25-12, 25-12 Monday at MHS Gymnasium. After the match, the Lady Hounds presented Marilyn Henggeler—the wife of cancer victim Don Henggeler—with a check for $2,252 dollars.

This money was raised through various donations and a raffle that was held before the match.

"I was very happy with the amount we raised," said Maryville head volleyball coach Lori Klaus.

Henggeler's husband Don has been suffering from a form of Lymphoma since August.

The couple has a daughter, Sarah, that's a junior at MHS and a son, Matthew, whose an eighth-grader at Maryville Middle School.

Henggeler was informed a month before that the school planned to do this for Don.

"I didn't expect anything this huge," said Henggeler. "This is crazy."

The Spike Out Cancer theme replaced Maryville's Dig Pink Nights that were held the past two years.

Lime green was chosen as the color of the ribbon on their shirts because of its association with Lymphoma.

Maryville (22-5-2, 5-1) controlled most of the match, building double-digit leads in both sets.

The Hounds led from wire-to-wire in the first set and for all but six points in the second.

"I think we played pretty well," said Klaus. "We have a big game tomorrow night. This time of the year, we got to start cleaning up our defense and swinging hard on offense."

Maryville's offense produced 20 kills in the match, giving them 57 in the last two. The Hounds also connected on 11 service aces.

Aubrey Kimble led the attack with six kills and tied for the team lead with four aces and seven digs. Sara Knowles delivered four kills and four aces. Anny Van de Ven had three kills and an ace. Alyssa Stiens, Gabby Church and Jessa Stiens each had two kills.

Jessa Stiens added seven digs in the back, while Knowles and Chelsea Byland had five apiece.

A kill by Church and two successive one's by Kimble helped generate an early 4-0 lead in the first set.

Craig won the next three points before the Hounds ran off seven in a row to open an 11-3 lead

Maryville maintained at least a six-point edge the rest of the set and held as much as a 22-8 lead on an ace by Van de Ven. This capped a run of four straight points and nine of 10.

Jessa Stiens closed out the set with a kill.

In the second set, Craig scored the first three points to lead 3-0. Maryville responded with a run of eight straight points and never trailed again.

Four straight aces by Kimble brought Maryville's lead to 14-5. Two more aces by Knowles stirred a four-point run that made it 23-10.

The match ended on a kill by Kimble.

Maryville concludes the regular season tonight at Smithville in a match that could have MEC title ramifications. The Hounds and Smithville are both 5-1 in the MEC and trail LeBlond by a game.

A LeBlond loss and a Maryville win would allow the Hounds to share the conference title. Smithville can also earn a share of the title with a win.

Like Maryville, the Warriors only loss in conference is to LeBlond.

"I talked to some other coaches about them, and if we play our game and we play hard, we have a chance to beat them," said Klaus. "I definitely think it's possible. We got to go out with confidence and just play our game."