Lady Pirates to open league play at GarPal
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-East Washingtonian photo
In the 2022 season's opening match at DeSales, KayLee Schmidt was a power at the service line, making 19 of 19 serves with a trio of aces as the Lady Pirates marched to a three-set win over the Lady Irish. Pomeroy starts league play at Garfield-Palouse tonight in Palouse.
TOUCHET–The Lady Pirates cruised through a match against the Touchet Redhawks here September 12, winning two out of three pre-league matches prior to rolling into the first week of volleyball league play.
The 2-1 Lady Buccaneers took on DeSales Tuesday and visit Garfield-Palouse today for the league opener. The Border Battle starts at 8 a.m. in Pomeroy on Saturday and the following week's matches are league contests at Colton and against Oakesdale.
Two of last week's matches were back-to-back road trips and the Lady Pirates, after opening the season with a win over DeSales, were flat in the contest at Asotin. The Lady Irish fell in three sets, 26-24, 25-18, 25-20, but the Lady Panthers rallied from a 1-1 set score to win 3-1, 22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-14. At Touchet, 25-5, 25-14, 25-15 were the set scores.
"I thought it was a great opening performance and was happy with all aspects of our play against a DeSales team that played with limited mistakes and made us earn our points," commented Head Coach Adam Van Vogt.
"We traveled to Asotin the next night and lost in four sets," he said. "I believe we were feeling the effects of playing on the road two nights in a row against a rested team and it showed as we were slower footed than the night before and too high on defense. We also made a lot more mental mistakes, from missing serves to not communicating as well.
"However, Asotin is a good team and it revealed areas where we need to improve and I think, in hindsight, there will be positives that came out of this match," Van Vogt said.
Pirates put up some impressive statistics at the Redhawks' court, Chase Caruso serving 28 of 29 with 19 serves in a row, and four aces. Haliee Brewer was 17 of 18 at the service line and seven aces, and Kendall Dixon was a perfect six of six serving with three aces.
Pomeroy was strong in the attack with Dixon nailing seven kills, Taylor Gilbert firing six, Jillian Herres pounding five.
At the Lady Panthers' Sept. 8, Pomeroy won the first set 25-22 but gave up the next three 25-20, 25-18, 25-14. Herres's 27 assists and Haliee Brewer's 11 digs were an indication of Asotin's attack. But Taylor Gilbert fired eight kills, Jadence Gingerich and Brewer six apiece, and Clara Jentz shot four kills over the net and had two blocks.
At DeSales, KayLee Schmidt was perfect serving all 19 times, with three aces. Tops in kills was Brewer with 15, Dixon pounded seven and Jentz six kills, plus rejected eight Irish kills. Herres made 25 assists and eight digs, and Caruso led with 11 digs.
