Seeing their freshmen and junior varsity counterparts have mixed results against Union last Thursday night, Jamie Ridenhour’s Owensville varsity Dutchgirl volleyball team looked to snap a three-match losing streak with a victory over the visiting Lady Wildcats.

Leading the match two sets to one, OHS could not hold on to the momentum before dropping the match in five sets to Union by scores of 25-16, 19-25, 23-25, 25-22 and 15-8.

Unable to overcome a number of unforced errors, Owensville dropped the first set in spite of four service points from Kayden Wood late in game one.

Game two saw the Dutchgirls take a 9-4 lead behind two service points each from Josie Gerlemann and Kyla Hendrix.

Able to hold on to the lead, a pair of Gerlemann kills late in game two allowed OHS to even the match at a set apiece.

Trailing 14-10 in game three, Gerlemann served three points in a row cutting the deficit to 14-13.

Later on in the set, Four Kylie Kitchen service points tied it at 22-22 before a pair of Drew Copeland service points helped the Owensville take a two sets to one lead in the match.

Taking a 12-7 lead midway through game four on five Kyla Hendrix service points, OHS saw that lead vanish before Union took the fourth set to force a fifth set to decide the match.

Able to tie game five at 3-3 on a Wood service point, Owensville saw Union outscore them 12-5 the rest of the set before dropping the match in five sets.

In side-by-side freshman and junior varsity action, Owensville won the freshman match in three sets while Union took the JV match in two sets.

Taking game one 25-19, Taylor Payne’s freshman Dutchgirls led 12-10 on four Cameron Nowack service points before Union came back to win game two 25-22 forcing a deciding third set.

In a third set that felt like an eternity, Nowack finally ended it with a kill giving Owensville a three-set victory over Union 25-19, 22-25 and 32-30.

Filling in for an absent coach Misti Rutledge, Ridenhour also coached the JV Dutchgirls in their match prior to the varsity contest.

Dropping game one 27-25, Owensville led 13-9 on a pair of Elise McFalls service points before Union scored 16 of the next 20 points to take game two and the match 27-25 and 25-17.

In JV tournament action at Union, Owensville defeated Waynesville (25-23, 25-12) and Jackson (25-21, 25-22) while splitting their pool matches with Hermann (25-17, 26-27) and St. Clair (25-23, 23-25).

Advancing to bracket play, OHS lost to Washington in two sets 25-15 and 25-19 dropping them to the third-place match against Hermann.

Falling 25-16 and 25-23, Rutledge’s JV Dutchgirls settled for fourth place at Union.

Monday night in varsity volleyball tournament action at Hermann, Ridenhour’s Dutchgirls lost their pool matches to Pacific (25-18, 25-11) and Borgia (25-8, 25-14) before sweeping Hermann’s JV Lady Bearcats 25-20 and 25-23 to advance to tomorrow’s (Thursday) consolation championship match against either Washington, New Haven, Gateway Legacy or Hermann’s varsity at 4 p.m.

Two days after finishing Hermann’s Tournament, Owensville will turn right around and compete Saturday in a tournament at Rolla High School.

OHS will begin Maroon pool action at 10:30 a.m., against Rolla with matches against Waynesville (noon), Fatima (1:30 p.m.) and Summersville (3 p.m.) to follow.

A top-three finish in pool play will advance Owensville to bracket.