By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Mahomet-Seymour’s volleyball season ended on Tuesday with a Class 3A regional semifinal loss to Unity on the Rockets’ court.
Unity improved to 2-0 in the season series between the schools, sweeping the Bulldogs 25-21, 25-23.
M-S closes with a 20-13 record. Unity (28-8) will face Champaign Central (27-8) in tonight’s regional championship match.
Kayin Garner dealt out 23 assists in the season-finale for the Bulldogs.
The balanced offensive attack featured nine kills from Ainsley Ranstead, eight kills from Savannah Matthews and six kills from Lauren Minick.
Matthews had a team-high 16 digs, followed by Josie Hess with 10 digs.
Amber Yeakel totaled four blocks. Hess had two service aces.
For the season, eight different squad members finished among the top three in at least one statistical category.
Matthews led in kills (338), followed by Minick (171) and Ranstead (146).
Garner led in assists (600), followed by Ashley Wheeler (121) and Hess (47).
Hess led in digs (389), followed by Matthews (297) and Garner (161).
Yeakel had the most blocks (52), followed by Minick (23) and Ranstead (23).
Garner landed the most service aces (45), followed by Ellie Beach (27) and Hess (26).
Matthews was one of three seniors on the 11-player varsity roster. The others who concluded their M-S volleyball careers this week were Emily Bohn and Chloe Henkel.
Girls’ swimming
The Bulldogs finished second in a four-school meet on Tuesday in Danville.
The host Vikings totaled 191 points, to beat M-S (146), Charleston (135) and Paxton-Buckley-Loda (47).
Danville produced the individual winner in 11 of 12 events. The exception was the 100-yard backstroke, where M-S freshman Olivia McMurry prevailed with a time of 1 minute, 12.40 seconds.
The Bulldogs will return to action on Friday with a dual meet against St. Thomas More.
