East Washingtonian - Your Hometown News Source

POMEROY–The P.H.S. Pirate Volleyball team opened the 2021 campaign with a win at DeSales, then dropped the first home match to Asotin in five sets September 9.

The Lady Pirates' next match is Tuesday, September 21 against DeSales on the home court.

"I was really pleased with how our team didn't get down on themselves or quit mentally after losing two close games and then took it to five games," observed Head Coach Adam Van Vogt of the five-set loss to the Lady Panthers. "It showed resiliency that will serve this team well moving forward."

Set scores were 23-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 8-15. Jayvees won in three sets.

"We got a little passive in game five and didn't keep attacking and putting the pressure on Asotin the way we did in games three and four," Van Vogt said. "Playing a fifth game this early will benefit us and I think we learned a lesson that will help us grow.

"It hurts losing a close game but Asotin played a lot more consistent ball than DeSales and forced us to raise our game," Van Vogt said. "We have some inconsistencies to work on defensively and need to clean up our serve receive, but I thought our girls responded well to a game that moved a lot faster than Tuesday's did.

"There were a lot of individual positives to come out of this game, too," he noted. "When you look at our stats, you'll see Keely Maves and Elizabeth Ruchert were solid hitters against a good defensive team. Chase Caruso had a ton of digs. Jillian Herres and Kendall Dixon played really well both offensively and defensively and had great all-around games. I was also very pleased with Haliee Brewer and how well she served and played. She really stepped up."

Jillian Herres played well with 21 assists, 10 digs, three aces on 22/23-96% serving.

Kendall Dixon smashed five kills, had two stuff blocks and three aces on 21/21-100% serving.

Keely Maves was big at the net with 10 kills and seven digs.

Elizabeth Ruchert hammered seven kills and counted six blocks.

Chase Caruso was huge on defense with 17 digs.

Haliee Brewer served 18/19-95%, counted three kills, and six digs.

The Lady Irish fell in three sets, 25-12, 25-11, 25-17, on Sept. 7.

The win was a great start to the season, Van Vogt said.

"I love our energy and how positive we are," he said. "It has helped us have great practices to start this season and helped us win our first game and nearly come back in the second.

"We were short some of our girls who I believe would have helped us and we get them back next week," Van Vogt said.

"I was very impressed with our serve receive," the coach commented. "We passed well in every game and it really let us be on the offensive all night."

Chase Caruso was instrumental, Van Vogt said. "She moved her feet to the ball and stabilized our serve receive and defense. It was especially impressive because she played libero for the first time in high school."

Hannah Bagby gave the team "a huge lift in her first varsity game."

"This was a great first game for us to start our season," Van Vogt said. "We really played well in every facet of the game and our girls gave us a lot of positives on which to build."

Herres served 14/16-88% with three aces and 15 assists.

Bagby was 19/20-95% serving with six aces.

Caruso was 14/15-93% serving with three aces.

Maves was strong with six kills and two aces on 5/6-83% serving.

Ruchert notched four kills and three blocks.