The Atlantic volleyball squad headed to Winterset bright and early Saturday morning to compete in the last tournament of the season. The girls took on East Mills, Gilbert, and Carlisle in pool play.

Hot on a four-game winning streak, East Mills came into the tournament with a record of 20-6. They also were ranked #9 in class 1A by the IGHSAU. 

The Trojans looked to snap their three-game losing streak against East Mills. In the first set, East Mills motored on just a step ahead of the Trojans. Both offenses came to play, and the opposition snagged the first set, 21-15. Atlantic broke even in the second frame, where they outplayed their competitors, 21-14. East Mills trumped Atlantic 15-11 in the final frame after serve-receive issues.

Against a top-ten rated East Mills squad, Atlantic put down 24 kills. Junior Alyssa Derby led her team with eight. The girls also had six aces. 

Another team Atlantic faced off against was Gilbert. With a record of 28-10 and a steady #12 ranking in class 4A, the Trojans looked to avenge their straight-set loss from earlier in the season. 

Gilbert quickly pulled away from Atlantic in the first set, as the Trojans were limited to scoring just a handful of points on the opposition’s solid offense. Once again, Atlantic put together a strong second set to break even, 21-15. In the decider, the two teams kept the crowd guessing, but Atlantic dropped another, 15-10. 

One bright spot for Atlantic was how the defense stepped up in the second and third frames. With 35 digs, the Trojans put points on the board. Derby had another solid match, contributing 13 digs to the team total. 

The final game for the Trojans featured Carlisle. The opposition was 19-12 upon arrival in Winterset. Before the tournament began, Carlisle was on a dominating, nine-game winning streak. 

With the hopes of a tournament victory, Atlantic took the court against their first unranked opponent of the day. In a nail-biting first set, Carlisle edged Atlantic, 21-18. In order to prevent a straight-set loss, the Trojans brought their A game and took the second set, despite strong serving from the other side of the court. In the final frame, Atlantic fell short, 15-8.

Against Carlisle, the Trojans put up six blocks and had seven aces. Junior Haley Rasmussen tacked on 19 assists, which pushed her past 1,000 in her career.

The tournament in Winterset was the last regular season competition for the volleyball team. They play Red Oak in the first round of regional play on Wednesday.