Volleyball Recap: Sparta Escapes with a Win

For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Sparta and Chester have met recently (two straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Tuesday. The Bulldogs came out on top in a nail-biter against the Yellowjackets, sneaking past 2-1.

If you add up the scores from across all three sets (69-68) Sparta actually scored fewer points, but in the end it didn't matter. The final set scores came out to 18-25, 25-22, 25-22.

Sparta got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Analiese Howell out in front who had 41 assists and seven digs. Another player making a difference was Alexis Tadlock, who had 18 kills, 11 digs, and two aces.

Loss or not, Chester got some senior leadership from Aleah Eggemeyer and Avery Hasemeyer. Eggemeyer had 34 assists and 13 digs, while Hasemeyer had 17 digs and 11 kills. The team also got some help from Joella Eggemeyer, who had 15 digs and eight kills.

Sparta has now won 10 of their last 11 games on the road. That's provided a nice bump to their 17-9 record this season. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 0-4 East Alton-Wood River and 12-13 Chester (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 22.5% over those games). As for Chester, they now have a losing record at 12-13.

Sparta has already played their next game, a 2-0 win against Dupo on the 14th. As for Chester, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 2-0 defeat against Carterville on the 14th.