By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
BARTLESVILLE – Yukon has always had good luck when it comes to playing in the Bartlesville Tournament.
The Millerettes had that luck again, but needed just a little more.
Yukon came up on the short end in the finals to Shawnee in three sets. No. 12 ranked Shawnee took the title in three sets, 25-20, 27-25 and 25-16.
The No. 9 ranked Millerettes, 14-6, had their chances against the Lady Wolves, 20-7, but the toll of a long road trip to Stillwater before the trip to Bartlesville may have taken its toll on YHS.
“Overall it was a good weekend,” Millerette head coach Rachel Allred said. “Coming off a very intense night in Stillwater, we knew it would be a tiring weekend that really required focus and endurance.
“We played really well until the last game of the tournament, the championship game, and lost the mentality,” she said. “We got frustrated with some poor serve-receive, hitting errors, then some bad calls and our starting right side hitter going down with a sprained ankle. Plus I think fatigue was an issue. Shawnee is a talented team and we just never regained the focus or momentum we needed to play with them.”
The Millerettes led in both the first and second sets, but each time saw Shawnee come back to regain the lead.
Kills from Brianna Worth and Sunny Middleton gave the Millerettes their first lead and blocks from Middleton and Rachel Kittler gave YHS a second lead in the first set.
In the second set, the Millerettes rallied to tie the set at 24-24. Shawnee took a 25-24 lead, but a block from the Millerettes made it 25-25. Shawnee, though, scored the final two points to take the set.
In the third set, the Millerettes, after ran out of gas and Shawnee took advantage to pull away and win the set 25-16.
The Millerettes had reached the finals with a three set win over Collinsville in the semifinals.
YHS won the match 25-9, 25-13 and 25-13.
Mallory Scott and Sidney Benge were named to the All-Tournament team.
YHS opened pool play against Tulsa Booker T. Washington, winning in three sets 25-17, 25-22 and 25-13. YHS beat Tulsa Bishop Kelley JV Red team 25-21, 25-7 and 25-21.
YHS continued their run through pool play with a 25-16, 25-13 and 25-17 win over Ponca City to finish 3-0.
“We did come out and play well in pool play despite having to go to Stillwater the night before and then make the trip to Bartlesville early in the morning,” Allred said. “We were focused, served well and we did the things we needed to do to win those matches.”
The night before, the Millerettes lost a four set match to No. 4 ranked Stillwater in Stillwater.
All four sets were close. Stillwater won the first set 25-23 and the second 25-21, but the Millerettes came back to win the third set 27-25 and had chances in the fourth set to force a fifth set. Stillwater came up with a pair of key blocks and had two kills that gave the Lady Pioneers a 25-20 win.
YHS travels to Southmoore Tuesday and hosts Santa Fe Thursday.
