East Washingtonian - Your Hometown News Source

DAYTON–The Lady Pirates were one match away from returning to the State Tournament but the St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse Lady Eagles handed the Lady Buccaneers a three-set loss in the consolation round of the District 9 Volleyball Tournament here Saturday.

"We got off to yet another strong start but, similarly to DeSales, when SJEL got on runs, we didn't have much luck getting a side-out and just couldn't get the momentum back once we lost it in game one," Head Coach Adam Van Vogt said.

The Lady Pirates had entered the playoffs as third seed, facing DeSales on October 30 in Walla Walla and falling in three sets. The team then took on Prescott with a three-set win at home November 2 to stay alive, setting up the showdown with SJEL."

"These girls accomplished a lot this season," commented Van Vogt. "We finished with the number three seed out of our seven-team district and won a play-off match.

"The statistic I'm most proud of is how we were regularly serving 90%-plus the last few weeks of the season after being under 80% early in the season," he added. "There were a lot of teams we played this summer or early in the season who we played better the second time around and I think that is important when evaluating how far this team came this year."

Against the Lady Irish, the Buccaneers started strong but couldn't hold the lead late in the first match, dropping it 24-26. Pomeroy fought hard to bounce back from that narrow loss, and did, Van Vogt said, but the Irish made an 8-0 run to seal game two 25-17. "We again played hard in game three and had some good rallies," Van Vogt said, but dropped the set 19-25.

"I saw lots of encouraging moments from a team that has largely never played a playoff match before," Van Vogt said.

Hosting Prescott, the Lady Pirates again started strong and were able to maintain momentum, winning in three sets, 25-13, 25-12, 25-19. "We had great energy, communicated well, and did as good a job limiting unforced errors as I've seen us do all season," Van Vogt said. For a fourth straight match, the team serving was over 90%, 92% this match. "This was as complete a match as we've played and that is great to see late in the season in a play-off setting," the coach said.

Against SJEL in Dayton, the Lady Bucs started strong but couldn't defend SJEL's powerful net game and struggled with unforced errors.

-East Washingtonian photo

Lady Pirate Haliee Brewer receives a SJEL serve as teammate Libero Bethany Zimmerman (3) and teammates on the sidelines look on.

Pomeroy v. SJEL (11-4) SJEL 25-9, 25-10, 25-13.

Stat Leaders: Brewer-2 kills, 4 digs, 1 ace; Gilbert- 2 kills, 6 digs, 7/7 serving

Pomeroy v. Prescott (11-2): Pomeroy 25-13, 25-12, 25-19

Stat Leaders: Brewer-4 kills, 2 digs, and 6 aces on 12/13 serving; Bagby-4 kills, 3 digs, 3 aces, and 1 assist on 10/10 serving; Gilbert-4 kills, 6 digs, and 3 aces on 7/8 serving; Carmen Fruh-4 kills, 1 block, and 3 aces; Olivia Cooper-12 digs; Haven Kimble-15 assists and 5 aces on 14/14 serving; Laynee Herres-5/5 serving and 3 digs.

Pomeroy v. DeSales (10-30): DeSales 26-24, 25-17, 25-19.

Stat Leaders: Hannah Bagby-12 digs, 4 kills, and an ace on 7/7 serving; Haliee Brewer-6 kills, 5 digs, and an ace on 9/9 serving; Taylor Gilbert-6 kills, 3 digs, and 4 aces on 10/11 serving; Haven Kimble-16 assists and an ace on 8/9 serving.