WEST ALEXANDRIA — Twin Valley South’s volleyball team improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Cross County Conference with a pair of wins last week.

South opened CCC play with a 25-18, 25-23, 22-25, 25-7 win over Newton on Tuesday, Aug. 27, then knocked off Mississinawa Valley in straight sets 25-23, 25-20, 25-19 on Thursday, Aug. 29.

”The first set went well for us, we were aggressive on defense, swinging hard and making Newton scramble,” South coach Jandee Mowell said of the first match of the week. “The second set was more of a challenge for us, we had a few net and serving errors and difficulty making third ball count. Newton played scrappy and worked hard to keep the ball alive. In the third set, we just could not get things to go our way. Newton did a good job of making us move and play out of system; too many free balls sent by us. Set four, we got wind in our sails and pulled ahead quickly with aggressive serving from Alyssa Clark and Lauren Cole.”

Clark and Cole both scored 15 points each on the night. Jayla Denlinger had 34 assists, with 11 kills from Mackenzie Neal, 10 kills for Morgan Harrod and nine for Sydney Bezich.

“Alyssa, Sydney, and Lauren together had 19 blocks kept in play,” Mowell said.

Alexis Bennett, libero, played solid in the back row with 22 digs and 21 of 23 in serve receive.

The junior varsity team started the night off with a 2 set win, 25-19, 25-18.

Mowell said the match against M-V was a defensive battle.

”Both teams demonstrated tremendous defense, making it a point by point battle. We were able to get an edge over the (them) in each set with aggressive serving and great digging which allowed our setters to do their job,” Mowell said. “Our hitters stayed aggressive on the net, giving Miss Valley defense a scramble.”

Clark and Neal put up nine points each.

Clark led the way with five serve aces.

Bennet stayed tough on defense with 29 digs and made good on 23 of 24 in serve receptions.

Harrod lead the team with nine kills, while Neal added six.

Denlinger put up 12 set assist with Taylor Mowell contributing seven.

The JV continued their winning streak with a win over Mississinawa Valley in 2 sets, improving their record to 4-0.

South was scheduled to host Franklin-Monroe on Tuesday, Sept. 3 and will travel to Bethel on Thursday. The Panthers will close out the week with a trip to Preble Shawnee on Saturday for a tri-match with the host Arrows and Springfield Northwestern beginning at 10 a.m.