EHS volleyers eye first Big 10 crown

Enid's volleyball team — coming off its first opening match win since 2014 — will enter Friday's Oklahoma Big 10 Conference Tournament with confidence.

The Pacers beat Putnam City North — considered one the top teams in the conference — 3-1 Tuesday.

The Pacers were fourth in last year's tournament, but coach Shannon Robinson said her team will be disappointed if they don't come away with their first-ever conference championship.

"We're going in it to win,'' she said. "We talked with the girls about playing to win, and not playing not to get beat. I told them that you're ready to come for it.''

McGuinness, which reached the 5A state tournament a year ago, has pulled out of the Big 10 tournament, making the tournament more wide open. 

Enid won its pool a year ago but lost to the Irish, 2-0 (25-15, 25-12) in the gold bracket semifinals.

"It's anybody's tournament,'' Robinson said. "I think the Putnam North game showed the girls that they can play very well and beat a good team. We're excited about this. I think we can beat anybody. We'll see. It will be a good competition.''

Enid plays Lawton Eisenhower at 10 a.m., Putnam North at noon and Putnam City West at 1 p.m. in pool play. The other pool has Choctaw, Lawton, Midwest City and Putnam City.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the gold bracket. The bottom two go to the consolation silver bracket.

Robinson said she will move a couple of hitters around in the Putnam City North rematch to try to "maybe throw them off a bit.''

"As long as we make good passes and hit the ball well, we'll be fine,'' Robinson said. "We know they will be coming for us. We're going to be making some changes defensively as well that we need to make for a couple of their hitters.''

Emily Peterson had  a career-high 20 kills against Putnam North.

"Twenty kills in four games is absolutely amazing,'' Robinson said, "but you can't get any good kills without a good pass or a good set. I have to brag on the setters and passers.''

Enid welcomes back senior Kylie Wilmeth, who missed the opener while on vacation. She will sit out the first match but play in the others.

"She's very athletic and she can jump,'' Robinson said.

Enid played well against Lawton at a scrimmage in Clinton last week, Robinson said. Robinson describes Lawton Eisenhower as "scrappy.''

The Pacers beat Lawton, 2-0 at the tournament last year. but lost the dual 3-1. Enid beat Lawton Eisenhower, 3-1.

Matches will be decided on a best two-out-of-three basis instead of the usual best three out-of-five.

Robinson said she's confident her team can hold up to playing five matches in one day. They played four without a break at Clinton."Our girls have worked very hard on their conditioning all summer,'' Robinson said. "We're in shape. We'll be able to keep up the endurance.''