Springfield, IL- Last weekend, Neosho Volleyball headed to Illinois to compete in the Lincoln Land Invitational, where they faced tough competition. The Panthers played against three national ranked teams, #7 Grand Rapids, #15 Lincoln Land and #2 Parkland.

First up on Friday, Neosho upset #7 Grand Rapids Community College in four sets. (25-23, 25-16, 13-25, 25-23) The Panthers played well defensively with 60 digs and 14 blocks for the match. Kayla Maples led the Panthers defensively with 15 digs, followed by Jenna Devore with 14 digs and 9 total blocks. Imani Jones also added 5 total blocks. Offensively Chandler Karr led Neosho with 13 kills followed by Ryed Creek with 10 kills.

The Panthers then took on the host team, #15 Lincoln Land. Neosho took down Lincoln Land for the second time this season, but in four sets instead of five sets. Once again, the Panthers played solid defensively with 74 digs and 12 total blocks.  Kayla Maples had a season high 20 digs followed by Keeley Tallent with 17 digs. Karlye Wagner led the way defensively at the net with season high 8 total blocks followed by Imani Jones with 6 total blocks. Ryed Creek led the Panthers in kills with a season high 16 kills followed by Imani Jones and Chandler Karr with 12 kills each. Freshman setter Jenna DeVore had 46 assists and 11.5 assists/set for the match.

Saturday morning the Panthers faced off with Waubonsee, where they dropped a tough five set match. (19-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-25, 14-16) Sophomore Chandler Karr led the Panthers with 17 kills followed by Ryed Creek with 13 kills. Keeley Tallent led Neosho with 24 digs.

For the final match of the weekend, the Panthers faced #2 Parkland. The Panthers fell to the Cobras in three sets. (18-25, 15-25, 19-25) Serve receive offense proved to be the difference in the match. The sets were back and forth until Parkland went on a four-point serving run in each set. After each scoring run by Parkland, Neosho could not close the gap. Offensively, Chandler Karr led the Panthers with 9 kills followed by Kecley Hinz with 7 kills. Keeley Tallent led the defense with 12 digs.

On Wednesday, Neosho will head to Highland, KS to take on #3 Highland for the last game of the regular season at 5:30 pm.