Volleyball's 'positive energy' contributes to wins in Border Battle
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-EW photo by Naomi Scoggin
Taylor Gilbert (9) has been a force at the net for the Lady Pirates, slamming seven kills against DeSales and eight versus Garfield-Palouse in Pomeroy's winning first league match.
POMEROY–The Lady Pirates are 8-1 overall and 1-0 in 1B SE-East league play following their first league win, on the road at Garfield-Palouse last week, a week capped off by the home-court Border Battle, where Pomeroy went 4-0 to help Washington in an overall losing effort, a close 7-5 edging by Idaho schools.
The Lady Buccaneers visited Colton last Tuesday and are scheduled to host Oakesdale on Thursday, September 29, with a chance of a change due to lack of officials. Check with the school for up-to-date information.
"I was happy with so many things in the tournament and throughout the week but I think for me I liked our positive energy, how we played together, and continued improvement each match the best," said Head Coach Adam Van Vogt.
The Lady Pirates were ready for competitive Grangeville in the opener then duked it out with Prairie and Kamiah. "Both of these wins required us winning close games and, in the case of Kamiah, we were tied at 16-16 with a cap of 17 to win the third and tie-breaking game," Van Vogt said. "The ball went over and back several times but we finally got the game-winning point."
The coach sees improvement and would like service percentages to improve, but added the team is "serving tougher-to-play serves."
At Gar-Pal last week, the Pirates won in four sets, 24-26, 25-12, 25-11, 25-11.
Pomeroy was up 24-18 in the first set and a questionable call gave Gar-Pal the point when the team thought they had the win, Van Vogt said. "It flustered us and they rattled off seven straight points to win their first match in front of a pumped-up home crowd," he said. "Our girls didn't just come back, they imposed their will in the next three games and played very well."
KayLee Schmidt was 20 of 20 with 10 aces, and Kendall Dixon led in kills with 10, Taylor Gilbert and Haliee Brewer each notching eight. Jillian Herres counted 27 assists. Clara Jentz had four blocks and two kills, and Chase Caruso tallied 13 digs.
DeSales fell in three sets Sept. 20, 25-21, 25-11, 25-16. Brewer again was tops in kills with 10 and 12 digs. Gilbert counted seven kills.
Herres was 19 of 20 at the serve line with four aces and 26 assists. Caruso served 89% and made 21 digs.