Fall Roundup: Aug. 29 - Sept. 3

Park Hill Volleyball
.... started off the season last week on a down note with two losses to Northland teams. Starting off against Liberty, the Trojans fell in two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-17. They came out of the gate roughly later in the week when they were only able to put four points on the board against Oak Park in their opening set. Park Hill was able to come back and when the second set 25-20 before falling 25-14 in the final set. Coach Lindsey Hood says the Trojans are working through some early seaso injuries, but is keeping a positive attitude. Park Hill now 0-2 travels to Lee's Summit West this week before competing in the Winnetonka Tournament.

Park Hill Softball
... after a 3-2 performance in the Greater Kansas City Tournament two weeks ago with big wins against St. Thesa's, Kearney, and Staley, the Trojans offense continued to excel in one of their preseason points of emphasis, hitting, with a second thumping of Staley last week. This time a 13-2 victory on the heels of big doubles from Lexie Santoyo, Samantha Snodgrass, and Bethany Sullinger, who also added a home run. Park Hill fell to last year's state runner-up Truman in a close 3-2 game which saw the Trojans test Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year pitcher Paige Parker with a close 1-1 game going into the sixth inning. Park Hill is 4-3 coming into matchups against Park Hill South and Liberty this week.

Park Hill Girls Golf
...continue to see early season success with two wins last week. Anna Kloeppel and Adrianna Elliott led the way with scores of 43 against Winnetonka as their collective 190 team score edged the Griffins. It was Kloeppel once again with a 44 as Park Hill beat Staley. The Trojans will compete in the St. Joe Central Invitational next week before an anticipated match against Park Hill South Friday at the National Golf Club.

Park Hill South Girls Golf
... battled Liberty to a 204 tie last week at Liberty Hills Country Club. Liberty's Marissa Juliana led the field with a score of 39. The tie-breaker went to the Panthers though as their fifth player bested Liberty's 57-60. South competed in a four team match at the National featuring Lee's Summit West, Ray-Pec, and St. Joe Central. The Panthers came in second to Lee's Summit West's 183 team score with their 191. A packed schedule this week includes the Richmond Invitational, match at Ray-Pec and Notre Dame De Sion, the St. Joe Invitational, and concluding with a home match against Park Hill, Oak Park, and Truman.

Park Hill Boys Soccer
... knew the Olathe Tournament would be a good early season test and it proved to hold true as they coming out of the tournament and into this week with a 1-2 record. In a game closer than the eventual 2-0 score would lead to believe, Park Hill fell to eventual tournament champ Shawnee Mission Northwest in the opening round. They fell to Blue Valley North later in the week by another 2-0 score. Tim Hay got the Trojans on the scoreboard first in 2011 when he scored their first goal of the year against Oak Park on Saturday. Matt Russell added second on the way to a 2-1 victory. Park Hill plays at Liberty before traveling to Springfield over the weekend to play Kickapoo and Glendale.

Park Hill South Softball
.... added two quality conference wins last week as they racked up the runs against Fort Osage in a 14-4 victory. They followed it up with a close 4-3 victory over Raytown. They host Raytown South and Park Hill this week.

Park Hill South Girls Tennis
... pulled in three wins against high quality opponents last week. Adele Royle led the Panthers with solid and wide-margined victories in all three of her singles matches and teamed up with Marie Gehrke to wins all three of their top doubles matches as well. As a team, South defeated Lee's Summit West 6-3, Liberty 5-4, and Blue Springs 7-2.

Park Hill Girls Tennis
Park Hill girls tennis was defeated in their only match last week as they fell to St. Theresa's Academy. Coach Tim Kalis sees their difficult early schedule as a positive thing and given them the opportunity to address several areas in which they'll need to improve over the course of the season.

"The nice thing is we've really been working on being more aggressive. It's really been trial by fire so far," Kalis said. "Collectively as a team, we're playing good teams so it's given us more things to work on."

The competition won't be getting any easier as the Trojans travel to Columbia this week to play in the Rockbridge Invitational followed by a match with Lee's Summit West. They'll start next week off with what shapes up to be an interesting matchup with Park Hill South. Kalis says South will offer another early season test as a team that also has some high quality athletes.

"I think the match against Park Hill South will be awfully good," Kalis said. "Adele Royle, their number one, is a great player and competitor. Her and Suzanne (Barth), our number one, will be a good match. I think our number two's and three's line up pretty close as well."
 
Park Hill South Boys Soccer
... saw mixed results in the Olather Tournament last week as they went 1-1-1 to start off the season. A 2-0 defeat against Olathe Northwest in their opener led to a 3-2 victory over Oak Park in which the Panthers were up 3-0 before giving up two goals towards the end of regulation. They concluded the tournament with a tie that resulted after a 0-0 score followed two scoreless overtime periods before lightning postponed the game and the opportunity to decide the match with penalty kicks. They travel to Springfield this weekend for games against Kickapoo and Glendale. Coach Joe Toigo says it wasn't a bad start and is starting to see his team come around.

Park Hill South Boys Swim and Dive
.... started the season in a big way last week with a 192-122 win over Lee's Summit West. In their first meet they were already able to qualify five for state including Daniel Day in the individual medley and 500 yard freestyle, Tom Prinslow in the 500 yard free, Liam Huffman in the 100 yard backstroke, Jacob Little in the 100 yard breast stroke and Spencer Moran in diving. On top of that, their 200 medley and 400 free relays qualified. Also gaining first place finishes were Spencer On in the 50 free and Huffman in the 100 yard butterfly. South travels to Springfield to compete in the Top Dog Duals and Ozark Invitational over the weekend.