Pani, Lady Hornets conquer rival Mexico to pick up NCMC win

Sophomore outside hitter Kate Pani tallied five kills to help direct the Fulton Lady Hornets volleyball team to a 25-9, 25-11 NCMC triumph over rival Mexico on Monday night at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.

Senior setter Kenzie Shaw tacked on 15 assists and three aces for Fulton (6-5, 3-1 North Central Missouri Conference). Senior libero Amanda Allison also provided six digs and five aces.

"It was a good night for us to work on our free-ball plays," Lady Hornets head coach Megan Youse said. "We also did a nice job of continuing to run our system and staying within it against a very scrappy team."

Fulton (4-3) prevailed in the junior varsity match 25-22 and 25-18. Junior outside hitter Katlyn Jackson delivered three kills and four aces, junior setter Colleen Van Norman chipped in with 12 assists and four aces, and sophomore libero Kylie Davis responded with six digs.

The Lady Hornets were coming off a 1-3 finish in their own Fulton Invitational on Saturday. Fulton defeated Owensville 25-23 and 25-12, but bowed to California (25-19, 25-21), Savannah (25-16, 25-20), and Versailles (17-25, 25-16, 25-14).

"It was a tough day," Youse said. "We had some amazing moments with some incredibly beautiful plays. I wish we could be more consistent with those, but unfortunately we aren't able to repeat those as often as we would like."

The Lady Hornets travel to School of the Osage for a non-conference tripleheader at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.