After going 14-20-1 last year, the Alton volleyball team is shooting for its sixth winning season in eight years.
The Redbirds improved to 13-10-2 with four matches and a tournament remaining in their regular season after beating the Granite City Warriors 25-19, 15-25, 25-11 on Tuesday in a Southwestern Conference match on AHS.
Alton defeated Granite City for the second time this season. The Redbirds knocked off the Warriors in two games at the Alton Redbird Classic on Sept. 9.
AHS won its fourth match in a row, tying a season high. In early September, the Redbirds went on a four-match winning streak after starting off 2-5.
Alton plays another home match at 6 p.m. Thursday against Mater Dei. The Redbirds also have matches against O'Fallon (Oct. 10). Edwardsville (Oct. 12) and Belleville West (Oct. 19) and the Highland Round Robin Tournament (Oct. 6-7) on their regular season schedule.
Alton also improved to 3-1 in Southwestern Conference play. The Redbirds went 0-7 in league matches last fall.
Seniors Emily Stahl, Sydney Schmidt and Gwen Hunter are among the top returning players from last year's team.
Granite City dropped to 9-17-1 overall and 1-5 in Southwestern Conference play with the loss to the Redbirds. The Warriors have gone 4-14-1 after starting off 5-3.
Morgan Tanksley finished with 12 kills, Donyai Garrett had 9 assists and 3 blocks and Lexi Short finished with 13 assists for Granite City, which has two regular season matches remaining.
The Warriors return to action on Oct. 12 with a road match against Belleville East. They'll wrap up their regular season on Oct. 16 with a home match against Madison.
BOYS GOLF
CLASS 3A BELLEVILLE EAST REGIONAL – The Edwardsville Tigers qualified for the Class 3A Homewood-Flossmoor Sectional on Oct. 9 after finishing second with a 311 in the Class 3A Belleville East Regional on Tuesday at Clinton Hills Golf Course.
Quincy won the regional title with a 304. O'Fallon will join the Tigers and Blue Devils at sectionals after placing third with 341.
Ben Tyrrell led Edwardsville with a 73, one stroke shy of medalist honors. Quincy's Parker Campbell fired a 72.
Also for the Tigers, Trevor Laub finished with a 77, Tanner White carded an 80 and Jon Ratterman shot an 81.
Granite City senior Drew Wielgus, who shot a hole-in-one at the Mascoutah Invitational on Saturday, qualified for sectionals for the first time after finishing with an 85. He will be the Warriors' lone representative in Monday's sectionas.
Granite City finished seventh with a 371.
Alton's season came to a close after finishing in a tie for eighth with Belleville West with a 397 and had no sectional qualifiers. Clayton Pilger shot a 93 and Adam Stilts finished with a 94 to lead the Redbirds.
BOYS SOCCER
Marquette Catholic 13, Roxana 0
Belleville West 1, Alton 0
Belleville East 3, Granite City 0
Althoff 3, Father McGivney 0
Triad 8, Civic Memorial 1
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Edwardsville def. O'Fallon 24-26, 25-22, 26-24
Waterloo def. Civic Memorial 25-14, 25-11
Valmeyer def. Marquette Catholic 25-17, 25-22
Carlinville def. EA-WR 25-17, 25-13
Bunker Hill def. Father McGivney 25-14, 14-25, 27-25
Collinsville def. Metro East Lutheran 25-9, 25-10
FIELD HOCKEY
Edwardsville 1, Webster Groves 0