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POMEROY––The Garfield-Palouse Lady Vikings put together a long run and avenged an earlier loss to the Pomeroy Lady Pirates here last Friday.
Pomeroy closed the covid volleyball season with a 2-8 record, winning matches at Gar-Pal on February 27 and over Tekoa-Rosalia March 4.
"We competed well but each game saw Gar/Pal put together a long run that made it tough for us to ultimately win," commented Head Coach Adam Van Vogt. "A big focus for next year will be to side out quickly and limit opponent runs."
The team served 95% in the match. "It was one of our best efforts of the year," Van Vogt said.
Set scores were 19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 19-25.
Senior outside hitter Chloe Mayfield had an excellent game, Van Vogt said. "She filled up the stat book with eight kills, seven digs, and two aces," he said, "but I was even more impressed with her leadership. She played hard and set a phenomenal example for our younger girls; showing them how to compete and have a great attitude."
Despite the loss, Van Vogt said a lot of our girls did good things. "Kendall Dixon moved to the middle for the first time this season and had a really strong game with five kills, two blocks, and 12 for 12 serving with two aces."
Keely Maves, a junior, turned in one of her best performances of the season as well, Van Vogt said. Maves nailed seven kills with some really big swings and her .294 hitting percentage was one of her best this season. She also played some back row and did well there.
Sophomores KayLee Schmidt and Katie Boyer responded really well to their first varsity starts, both passing well in serve receive. Schmidt led the team with 10 digs, and was 9 for 9 serving.
"We had one senior, one junior, five sophomores and one freshman play in this varsity match with three of those athletes getting their first extended playing time and/or varsity start," Van Vogt said. "We also had to make some rotation changes that were challenging to pick up in two days.
"I thought our girls adapted well and I'm proud of how they competed," he said. "As disappointing as it is to lose, the experience that our team gained in this game will be really valuable for our program moving forward. We improved a lot in our understanding of the game this season and I believe our execution of what we are trying to accomplish will follow."
