Carter crawls out of sick bed to make All-Tournament Team at SIRR Preview

No one can say Kiley Carter isn't a tough player, especially after she was bed-ridden with a 103-degree temperature less than 24 hours before the SIRR Preview Volleyball Tournament got started.
"I've played sick before, so I knew I just had to get some rest and get some medicine in me so I could play," Carter said. "When I got up Saturday morning, I was feeling much better. I had no fever and wasn't sick at my stomach anymore."
Carter was with her teammates bright and early as usual Saturday morning, and by the time the tournament ended, she was voted to the All-Tournament Team as the only member of the Benton Rangerettes.
"My season has been going pretty well, but at the Preview everything was a surprise (to me) because I had been kind of sick," Carter said.
At the tournament, the senior multi-sport athlete had to play five matches over a 12-hour marathon session. In pool play, Benton opened at 9 a.m. with a loss to Sparta (30-28, 20-25, 15-13) with Carter leading the team with seven kills from her right-side hitter position.
"I just put the sickness out of my mind, but I did take it a little slower so I could make it through the whole tournament," Carter said.
The Rangerettes rebounded to beat West Frankfort, 25-12, 25-20 as Carter finished with four kills. Pool play ended with a loss to Nashville, 25-16, 25-17. Carter contributed five kills.
Benton then moved to the championship round in the silver division, losing a highly competitive match to Herrin, 26-24, 15-25, 22-20. Again, Carter led the way with five kills.
Benton finished with a 25-18, 17-25, 15-11 win over Carterville. Carter added four kills.
When the tournament ended sometime around 8:30 Saturday night, the Rangerettes were the winner of the silver division.
The season opened Aug. 27 with Benton knocking off Carbondale: 25-12, 14-25, 25-20.
Madi McLain led Benton with seven kills while Carter followed with six. Zoe Carlton had 28 assists and Kaitlyn Kuchar was 12-for-12 on serves with three aces.
Benton improved to 2-0 with a 25-20, 28-26 win over Marion in its home opener.
McLain went 8-for-8 on serves with four aces, while offensively, she finished with seven kills on 15-of-18 marksmanship. Carter chipped in six kills.
This week, the Rangerettes travel to Centralia Tuesday and host Carterville Thursday.