Lady Panthers win Houston volleyball tournament

The Mountain Grove Lady Panthers’ volleyball team continued their special season last week by putting themselves in the driver’s seat to win a South Central Association (SCA) Conference title with a win over 19-win Cabool. They followed that performance two days later by sweeping their way to winning the Houston Volleyball Tournament.
Against the Lady Bulldogs on the road Oct. 3, Mountain Grove easily won the first set, 25-14.
Cabool rallied though to win the second set, 25-19, before the Lady Panthers dominated the rest of the way, 25-16 and 25-13.
Mountain Grove is undefeated in the SCA Conference and has an Oct. 15 match with Willow Springs at home and travel to Salem on Oct. 17.
Two days earlier, the Lady Panthers dispatched of Ava, 25-11, 25-6 and 25-17.
In the Houston tournament, the Lady Panthers won the first place plaque after not losing a set all day on Saturday.
They opened with a pair of 25-8 sets against Gainesville.
Against Thayer, they held off the Lady Bobcats in the opening set, 25-22, before cruising to a 25-15 win.
This gave them another crack at Cabool and they defeated the Lady Bulldogs, 25-14 and 25-23.
Finally, they knocked off Plato, 25-10 and 25-16, in the final pool play match.
Mountain Grove went on to win the championship after defeating Willow Springs, 25-22 and 25-19.
Raylee Stenzel was named tournament MVP while both Sophee Peterson and Makenna McGowan were also All-Tournament selections.