Finish 7th out of 12 teams with wins over Waterloo and Riverview Gardens and losses to Wesclin and Pinckneyville
BY JM BEERS
CHESTER – The Chester High School Lady Jackets Volleyball Team finished a very busy week of competition at the 2023 Freeburg High School “Monster Mash Volleyball Tournament”.
Earlier in Week 8 Chester completed back-to-back wins, one Tuesday October 10 on the road at Sparta winning in two sets, 25-12 and 25-22 and another Thursday October 12 at home against Red Bud in three sets, 17-25, 25-20 and 25-20.
Saturday October 14 the Lady Jackets finished the week with four matches in the Monster Mash making it six matches in Week 8 of the 2023 Volleyball season.
There were 12 teams competing in the 2023 “Monster Mash” including Okawville, Chester, Gibault, River Gardens, Benton, Freeburg, Nashville, Marissa, Pinckneyville, Mt. Vernon, Waterloo, and Wesclin.
Match 1: CHS beats Riverview Gardens, 25-2 and 25-8
According to one source close to the Lady Jackets squad, the win over Riverview Gardens from the St. Louis area was not so much that the Lady Jackets beat them, but that they consistently beat themselves.
Set 1 was a score of 25-2 and Set 2 was 25-8, both rather easy wins due to the fact that Riverview Gardens made mistake-after-mistake throughout the entire match.
It was the first match of the day and perhaps the early competition did not sit well with River Gardens, but Chester coasted to a rather quick, easy win to improve to 21-6 for the season and 1-0 in the tournament.
Match 2: CHS falls to Pinckneyville, 23-25 and 20-25
The Jackets faced former River-to-River Mississippi Division foe Pinckneyville in Game 2 of the tournament. The winner would advance to the Gold bracket and the loser would play in the Silver bracket.
The Lady Panthers won this contest, but it was close and competitive in both sets. Chester fell in Set 1 by just two points, 23-25 and by five points in Set 2, 20-25. The match was close and hard-fought.
In the loss Jordan Buskohl recorded 8 kills and a block and had a milestone in her high school varsity career by recording her 500th kill. Mabry Wingerter had 12 assists and 5 kills. Maggie Caby added 5 kills and Jazzi Merideth had a block. With the loss Chester moved to play in the Silver bracket with a 1-1 record. The Jacket’s overall record for the 2023 season fell to 21-7.
Match 3: Chester loses to Wesclin 22-25 and 20-25
The Lady Jackets faced Cahokia Conference Illinois Division rival Wesclin in Match 3. The two teams met way back at the beginning of the season on August 29 in Week 2 with Chester bringing home a nice win to start the 2023 conference journey.
On this Saturday in October, however, the Lady Warriors got the best of the Lady Jackets winning Match 3 in two sets, 22-25 and 20-25. With this loss Chester fell to 1-2 in the tournament and to 21-8 for the season.
In the loss, Maggie Caby recorded 7 kills. Jordan Buskohl had 6 kills. Mabry Wingerter add 8 assists and 3 kills. Alexis Eggemeyer added 3 kills.
Match 4: Chester wins 26-24 and 25-21 over Waterloo
In the fourth and final match of the Monster Mash the Lady Jackets s-ecured a nice win over the Waterloo Lady Bulldogs. Chester won in two hard-fought, close, and exciting sets, 26-24 and 25-21.
In the win, Jordan Buskohl recorded 10 kills. Mabry Wingerter had 17 assists and 3 kills. Jasemine “Jazzi” Merideth recorded 7 kills. Maggie Caby had 3 kills and 4 aces, and Alexis Eggemeyer recorded 3 kills and 6 aces.
Another Lady Jacket, senior Ellen McCormick, added 11 digs giving her 381 digs this 2023 season and a milestone 700 career digs at the high school varsity level.
With the win, Chester finished 7th out of the 12 teams competing at the 2023 Freeburg Monster Mash Volleyball Tournament with a tournament record of 2-2. The win also boosted the Lady Jacket’s 2023 season record to 22-8 overall.
Head Coach Colleen Runge said, “We played some tough competition at the 2023 Monster Mash. We went 2-2 on the weekend beating River Gardens and Waterloo and losing to Pinckneyville and Wesclin.”
“The girls played some great ball this weekend. We had two athletes reach milestones as well. Jordan Buskohl had her 500th varsity kill and Ellen McCormick reached her 700th varsity dig. We finished 7th out of 12 teams.”
Chester’s Ellen McCormick (4) hit a milestone in her varsity volleyball career over the weekend at the 2023 Freeburg “Monster Mash” Tournament when she recorded her 700th Varsity Dig. For the 2023 season alone McCormick has had 381 digs and is a key contributor to the Lady Jacket’s success.
Head Coach Colleen Runge presents Ellen with a poster commemorating her accomplishment Monday October 16 when Chester hosted Wesclin. Jim Beers Photo
Jordan Buskohl (2) a Chester High School senior volleyball player, hit a milestone accomplishment at the 2023 Freeburg Monster Mash Volleyball Tournament Saturday October 14. During the 4-match tourney, Buskohl recorded her 500th kill in Varsity Volleyball. Shown here CHS
Head Coach, Colleen Runge, presents Jordan with a poster to commemorate her accomplishment. The presentation took place Monday October 16 at CHS Colbert Gymnasium prior to the start of the Lady Jacket final Cahokia Conference Match when Chester hosted Wesclin. Jim Beers Photo