“On the Road Again.”

Willie Nelson’s timeless country classic would be a fitting soundtrack for the first two weeks of Jamie Ridenhour’s Owensville Dutchgirl volleyball season.

Needing four sets to defeat Belle last Tuesday night in Maries County, Ridenhour’s Dutchgirl volleyball ended their season-opening five-match road trip taking on Salem’s Lady Tigers down in Dent County.

Dropping the first set 26-24 in varsity action, Owensville stormed back to take the next three sets and the match by scores of 24-26, 25-16, 25-22 and 25-20.

Dutchgirl senior Makensy Pigg led the orange and black with 13 kills followed closely by McKenzy Echols with 12 kills.

Ayla Schmanke nearly made it three Dutchgirls with double digits in kills finishing with nine.

McKenna Edwards and Pigg each finished with three aces behind the serving line for Owensville at Salem.

Liz Adams followed with two aces to go along with one apiece from Ally Gooch, Mya Vandegriffe and Echols.

Callie Koelling and Vandegriffe each recorded two blocks while Madi Lewis and Pigg added a block each.

Adding to her match-high three aces, Edwards patrolled the back row with a team-leading 15 digs for the Dutchgirls. Pigg added 14 digs while Gooch also reached double digits in digs with 10.

Gooch also dished out a team-high 24 assists for OHS against Salem while Pigg added 13 assists.

Prior to varsity action, Alexis Decker junior varsity Dutchgirl volleyball team needed three sets to turn away Salem by scores of 23-25, 25-16 and 15-4.

Courtney Hinson’s C-team Dutchgirl volleyball squad swept Salem in two sets 25-10 and 25-16.

Two nights earlier in a Highway 28 volleyball showdown at Belle against the host Lady Tigers, Ridenhour’s Dutchgirls fortunately had a few days to recover after going five sets to defeat Linn closing out the August portion of their schedule.

Taking game one 25-21 over Belle, OHS was looking to sweep the match in three sets.

Belle had other ideas taking game two 25-22 to even the match at a set apiece.

From there, Owensville took the next two games and the match by scores of 25-21, 22-25, 25-21 and 25-12.

Vandegriffe led the Dutchgirls with 14 kills against Belle followed by eight kills from Pigg and seven from Koelling.

Edwards served up a team-high four aces followed closely by Vandegriffe with two.

Also recording an ace apiece against Belle for the Dutchgirls were Adams, Echols, Gooch and Pigg.

To go with her match-high 14 kills, Vandegriffe also recorded four blocks. Pigg added two blocks followed by one each from Schmanke and Koelling.

Adding to her four aces, Edwards led the Dutchgirls with 20 digs followed in double digits by Adams with 14 digs and Gooch with 10 digs.

Pigg dished out a team-high 16 assists for Owensville against Belle followed closely by Gooch with 14.

Junior Camryn Caldwell also reached double digits dishing out 11 assists against Belle.

Over the weekend at the Melissa Hoerber Volleyball Tournament in Fulton, Owensville placed second in their pool advancing to bracket play before being knocked out by Southern Boone in two sets, 25-17 and 25-13.

During pool play at Fulton, Owensville swept Bowling Green in two sets 25-10 and 25-17 before splitting with Fulton taking game one 25-20 and dropping game two 25-17.

Closing out pool play, Owensville swept North Callaway taking both sets 25-18 and 25-17.

Schmanke led the Dutchgirls with six kills against the Lady Thunderbirds.

Echols and Pigg paced the Dutchgirls with three service aces against North Callaway.

Koelling recorded the lone block against the Lady Thunderbirds while Adams and Edwards each led the Dutchgirls with four digs.

Pigg dished out a team-high 10 assists against North Callaway.

Statistics from the other matches in Fulton were not available at press time.

Hosting Capital City’s Lady Cavaliers last night (Tuesday), Owensville will have three more home matches throughout the coming week hosting Fatima’s Lady Comets tomorrow (Thursday) at 4:30 p.m., before hosting Rolla’s Lady Bulldogs on Monday, Sept. 18 and Pacific’s Lady Indians on Tuesday, Sept. 19. Both matches against Rolla and Pacific will start at 4:30 p.m., inside the OHS main gym.

In between the three home matches, Owensville’s C-team and junior varsity Dutchgirls will compete in tournament action Saturday with the JV squad in Washington and the C-team further down Interstate 44 in Pacific.