Mistakes compound, ending OV’s season
by Kirk Whitaker
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter
Okaw Valley volleyball will have to wait to contend in the LOVC and against the rest of the area again next year.
In the first game of play in the Arcola Regional, the Lady Timberwolves squared off with Atwood-Hammond—whom the Timberwolves defeated last week in three sets—but fell in straight sets 25-20, 25-12. Read More
Photo by Kirk Whitaker
Arthur-Lovington celebrated senior night Tuesday with (left to right) Hannah Schrock, Karly Goodman, and Sherelle Coller.
Poor passing and third set lifts get the best of AL
by Kirk Whitaker
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter
It was supposed to be the last hurrah.
Tuesday night’s game between Arthur-Lovington and Heritage in Arthur was the final home game in the 34 year career of Lancer head coach Val Cornwell and the Lancers (22-3) looked primed and ready to send their coach off with a bang against Heritage, whom the Lancers had easily put away in two sets in the LOVC Tournament. Read More
Final game against Clinton Friday
by Kirk Whitaker
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter
The big play was not the friend of SOV when they traveled to Decatur to face St. Teresa Friday.
The Bulldogs scored on pass plays of 67, 52, and 50-yards to down SOV 42-7 in the next to last regular game of the season. The Redskins dropped to 2-6 on the season which, at the beginning, was supposed to be a statement season for the Redskins’ program. Read More
At SOV’s last appearance in the Okaw Valley Conference cross country meet before they begin competition next year in the Central Illinois Conference, the girls pulled away with a fourth place finish behind no. 1 and no. 2 state-ranked St. Teresa and Monticello, as well as state-ranked Unity. The girls edged out A&M for fourth by a score of 137 to 140. Read More
Photo by Keith Stewart
Sullivan’s Brittin Boyer goes up for the block against Meridian’s Maggie Comerford, who was a force on the front line last Thursday as she helped lead her team to a 25-12, 25-17 win over the Lady Red.
Inconsistency continues to plague Lady Red
by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com
After having one of their best games of the year at Monticello the Tuesday prior, Sullivan’s volleyball team had, what head coach Heather Lindenmeyer referred to, as their worst.
“We just played awful tonight,” said the Sullivan coach. “We had a wonderful match against Monticello. We came out so aggressive. We were in system. It was just amazing to see that, so this loss is much more disappointing, because it’s probably one of the worst.”
But signs of this worst-to-come match didn’t surface at the beginning.
Sullivan took an early 2-0 lead, but Meridian responded with four unanswered points. A Brittin Boyer kill would provide the side out and just a one-point deficit, but the Lady Hawks’ Maggie Comerford had her first of many kills on the night. Meridian tallied another four unanswered points, two of which thanks to unforced Sullivan errors. Despite stringing together three straight points and cutting Meridian’s lead to two, Sullivan fell back after the Hawks got back out to a four point lead at 8-12. Read More
After losing to Atwood-Hammond the Thursday prior, the Okaw Valley volleyball team hosted the Rajenes Monday night and made use of the home court advantage, winning in three sets 25-11, 20-25, 25-19.
Shelby Dash had 14 digs for the Lady T-Wolves, while Mollee Decesaro made 20 assists. Amy Orris also posted 12 digs, while Megan Dash recorded nine kills. Read More
Photo by Keith Stewart
Tyler Schuring takes off Friday night. This was a common sight last week when ALAH took on Arcola in Atwood, as Schuring ran for three touchdowns. The junior quarterback also threw for one touchdown and returned an interception for another in his team’s 42-14 victory.
27-7 first half lead too much for catch up
by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com
The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond Knights may have beaten neighbor Arcola 42-14 for Atwood/Hammond’s last homecoming this past Friday, but that didn’t stop head coach Dale Schuring from being critical of his team, especially the defense, which struggled to stop the Purple Riders from moving the ball and controlling the game.
“We have responded well to adversity and when other teams get things going, but the simple fact is they dominated us tonight,” said Schuring. “I don’t care, you can look at the scoreboard all you want, but they had the ball the whole game. They pounded the ball at us, threw it when they needed to; they completed every time they wanted to throw it. Hats off to them. They beat us everywhere but the scoreboard.” Read More
by Kirk Whitaker
Reporting in Bethany
After falling to Martinsville a week ago in the LOVC tournament, Okaw Valley took on conference foe Cerro Gordo in Bethany Tuesday night.
The Lady Timberwolves (5-11, 2-5 LOVC) started off the set down 5-1, but came back to take the lead at 6-5. In the first 12 points of the match, there were six ties. After OV initially taking the lead, the first multi-point lead was achieved by the Lady Broncos at 12-10, prompting an OV timeout. The two teams played each other closely after that point in the match, but it was Cerro Gordo who took advantage of some late hitting and service errors by the Timberwolves to take the first set 25-21. Read More
Playoff hopes dashed with best possible record of 4-5 on the year
Kirk Whitaker
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter
Heartbreak has come again.
This year it was dealt by rival Shelbyville on homecoming with three weeks left to go in the season. The Redskins needed to win out the rest of the season to make the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade. Instead, SOV fell short 14-12.
The game was physical from the start, as both teams asserted their ground attacks early and often.
Sullivan had three possessions in the first quarter but squandered each while Shelbyville also had three possessions in the first and capitalized on their final drive of the quarter with 1:34 left on an 11-yard touchdown run. Read More
Photo by Keith Stewart
ALAH celebrated their seniors last Thursday, including (from left to right): Thom Kongdetudomkul, David Emrick, Matthew Robinson, Blake Miller, Natalie Bicknell, Briana Morgan, and Cassandra Lambdin.
Final victory not as dominate as hoped for
by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com
After finishing disappointingly with two losses and one tie at the Mattoon soccer tournament the week before, the Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond soccer team rebounded by ending their regular season with back-to-back wins against Altamont and the Mattoon Green Wave JV team.
The Knights travelled to Altamont a week ago Monday and got off to a slow start but managed to take a 2-1 lead going into the half. In the latter portion of the game, the Knights’ offense got a boost, scoring three goals. Read More