CLINTON — On January 22, the Lady Maroons, of Clinton Junior High, played a couple of tough volleyball matches against the Lady Knights, of Blue Ridge (Farmer City/Mansfield).  

The 7th grade teams started the evening off with the home team taking the first set easily 25-12.  Unfortunately the Lady Knights did not give in and fought through to a 25-23 win in the second set.  

This set up the third and final tie-breaking set. The final set was close until a final 4-point run pushed the Lady Maroons past the opposition for a 25-21 win.  This gave the Lady Maroons a 2-1 match win.

In the second match of the evening, the 8th grade teams also had to struggle for wins.  

Blue Ridge was fired up for the first set and took that set 25-16.  The Lady Maroons then were able to stay close to the opposition until late in the set when they scored four straight points to pass the Lady Knights and hold the lead for a 25-20 second set win.  

This set up the second third set tie-breaker of the evening, and the home team was up for the call.  

The first part of the set the teams traded 3 and 4-point runs but kept within striking distance of each other.  Then at 16 to 15 in the home team’s favor, the Lady Maroons went on a 6-point run followed by a short 3-point flurry to win the last set 25-16, taking the match win 2-1.  

The Lady Maroons came away with a 2-0 win of DeWitt County rivals the Blue Ridge Lady Knights.