Volleyball wraps covid season at home Friday

POMEROY––The Lady Pirates avenged an earlier loss to Tekoa-Rosalia but fell to Colton and Oakesdale over the past week as the covid-shortened season draws to a close with a final home match against Garfield-Palouse Friday, March 12.

The Buccaneers, 2-7 overall, had games every other day last week, compressing experience, practice and recovery into just six days.

"When I watch us play," said Head Coach Adam Van Vogt, "I feel like our girls are learning the game and improving with each game we play and practice we have. The numbers this week back that observation up.

"We beat Tekoa Rosalia in three after losing to them in five games earlier this season. We also had three games where we scored at least 20 points against Colton and Oakesdale this time around. Our best against either team the first time we played them was 16 points," he said.

"We still have to read, play lower, and move better on defense but we are making really good progress in such a short amount of time," he said. "Keely Maves, Elizabeth Ruchert, and Kendall Dixon are getting more blocks and touches with their blocks and our defense is getting more balls up every time we play. Mckenzie Watko and Chloe Mayfield in particular had excellent matches against Oakesdale and dug some great balls.

The Pirates fell to Oakesdale March 5 21-25, 9-25, 13-25. Serving was a strength for Pomeroy and the Nighthawks were on the attack, evidenced by Mayfield's 13 digs and Watko's 10 digs. Mayfield, Watko and Maves all served 100%, Maves was 12 of 12 with two aces. Mayfield and Maves each had three kills, and Watko a pair.

Tekoa-Rosalia was a three-set win, 25-14, 25-12, 25-17, March 4. Ace serves were the uniform of the day, Watko making six, Kendall Dixon and Mayfield making four, Maves acing a pair and Chase Caruso with one ace on 12 of 12 serving. Maves was the kill leader with four, Caruso had three and Mayfield two kills.

Defensively, the counts were small with Watko and Mayfield each notching four digs, and Dixon making one stuff block.

"I was very pleased with our focus against Tekoa-Rosalia," Van Vogt said. "We never really gave them a chance to get on a roll. I was very pleased that seemingly every time they got the ball from us we found a way to get it right back. I was really proud to see us bounce back from an earlier-season loss to get a three-game sweep."

Colton's Wildcats fought the Pirates who threatened in two contested sets, marking a 20-25, 23-25, 12-25 win March 2.

Maves had six kills and two ace serves. Ruchert contributed two blocks.

Watko and Caruso were busy defensively with 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Caruso counted two kills and Jillian Herres made 12 assists and four aces.

"We are working on being more aggressive and giving our opponents less free balls," Van Vogt said. "I think this contributed to better play against Colton and Oakesdale the second time around and almost led to use winning some games against them. We want to have an attacking mentality and I think we are definitely improving in this area.

"We served a season-best 95% against Oakesdale," he said. "We are getting better at using our serves to put pressure on our opponents and prolong runs for us."