Bullettes win!! Bullettes win!!

The Bullettes celebrate their SEISC title. Photo by Kent Harshbarger.

by Kent Harshbarger

The Mediapolis Bullettes ended years of frustration for themselves and head coach Dennis Jandrey when they won the Southeast Iowa Super Conference volleyball tournament at Southeastern Community College on October 1. Mepo topped three teams, including two rated higher than themselves, in winning the tournament.

It was the Bullettes first championship in the SEISC tourney since the inaugural event in 1993. On several occasions the Bullettes had entered the tournament as one of the top seeds only to fail.

This time was different. The Bullettes opened the tournament by hammering Wapello in two straight games. Mepo topped the Arrows 15-1 and 15-0.

The Bullettes did not miss a serve in the match, going 36 for 36 with 10 aces. Meta Kramer was 18 for 18 with six of the aces. Jo Kester led in kills with six and Ashlee Baker added five. Ashlei Jandrey contributed 17 assists. Defensively, Kramer led with four digs.

Coach Jandrey felt the dominating play in the opener set the stage for the Bullettes success in the semi-finals and finals. "We haven't gotten off to very good starts lots of times down here. I thought it was important for us to do that tonight and we did," Jandrey said.

In fact, it looked like the 16th rated Bullettes might roll past 12th rated New London in similar fashion. Mepo blitzed the Lady Tigers 15-0 in the first game. The Bullettes continued their efficient serving going 28 for 28 with five aces. Sarah Schulte was 10 for 10 with three aces during the game while Ashlee Baker contributed four kills.

The Tigers rebounded in game two. After trailing 2-1, New London scored the next three points behind the blocking of junior Rylee Olsen for a 4-2 lead. Mediapolis pulled even at 6-6 on a kill by Jandrey, but fell behind again on Olsen's kill. Mepo trailed 6-8, but battled back to a 9-8 lead on kills by Kester and Brenna Nelson. An ace by Courtney Pilch knotted the score at 9-9 and the Bullettes would never again be even in the game. An ace by Katie Lorber gave the Tigers a 14-10 lead, but Mepo pulled to within 13-14 on three kills by Kester. However, the Bullettes could not return a Pilch serve and the match was tied at one game each.

With the third game featuring rally scoring, the Bullettes did not want to fall behind, but did, trailing at one time 10-6. Would they go home early again? Mepo answered with a resounding "No".

Nelson followed a Schulte serve with a kill to make it 7-11. Jandrey earned a side out with a block. Laura Spanhut notched an ace to make it 9-11. Baker's kill pulled the Bullettes within in one. Another Spanhut serve knotted the score at 11-11 and Nelson's kill gave the Bullettes their first advantage since leading 5-4. Spanhut added another ace for a 13-11 lead. Mepo added another point before New London earned a side out, cutting it to 14-12. Stephanie Fischer's following serve resulted in another kill for Kester and a trip to the finals for the Bullettes..

Kester slammed 14 kills, while Jandrey, Baker and Kuenzler notched six each. Kester's dominance was not limited to offense. She also led in the team in blocks with six and in digs with 10. Jandrey recorded 28 assists in the win. Wirt had five blocks, while Kramer and Jandrey had six digs.

Coach Jandrey was not surprised his team earned the win. "I was pleased with the way we played. I really like those 15-0 wins. I have to give New London a lot of credit in game two. They just beat us. We were doing what we were supposed to do. New London just played good defense, dug stuff up and put it to the setter and right back at us," Jandrey said.
Was he worried in game three. "It's tough to comeback in rally scoring, but Jo really came up big and Laura's been serving rockets in practice. We believe if we just take care of us, we will be all right. We played within ourselves and took care of our side of the net and it paid off," Jandrey said.

In the finals against fifth rated Ft. Madison Aquinas, the Bullettes again got off to a quick start, leading 3-0. Aquinas narrowed the score to 4-2 before the Bullettes went on an 11 point run. With Schulte serving, the Bullettes cruised to the win. Nelson contributed two kills during the run, Kester and Kuenzler one each. Nelson also had three blocks and Jandrey one. Schulte registered two aces. Kuenzler's kill ended the game.

Mepo jumped to another quick lead in the second game of the championship, leading 5-0 before Aquinas got on the board. The Bullettes' lead grew to 8-1 before the Lady Dons started to comeback. Aquinas scored the next three points with a kill from Allison Melerotto igniting the rally and the Ft. Madison crowd. Kramer's ace stopped the run, but Kelly Pieper's ace and two more scoring serves cut the Mepo lead to 9-7.

Kester blocked Melerotto to earn the side out and with Jandrey serving, the Bullettes scored the next six points to end the match. Kester had two kills during the final rally. Pieper's return of Schulte's serve hit into the net to end the match and break the jinx for the Bullettes.

Against the Lady Dons, Nelson led the offense with seven kills. Kester had five, Jandrey four and Kuenzler three. Kester recorded an impressive 11 blocks on defense and Jandrey also reached double digits with 10. Jandrey added 16 more assists to her resume and a team high eight digs. Baker had six digs and Krista Wirt six blocks.

The Mepo head coach felt his team's comeback win in game three against New London carried over against Aquinas. "That game was big. It got us over the hump. I think the confidence from that game snowballed," Jandrey said.

Jandrey also felt his team was seeking respect in the tourney. "The kids were upset. Week one we are number three and then we dropped to 17th. We know the kind of competition we've played. They see these other teams not leave the area and keep their rankings. We have a good team too and that upset us. We think tonight will help us get some respect," Jandrey said.

The three wins boosted the Bullettes season record to 15-3-3 in match play and to 37-11 in games.