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COLTON–The momentum, as well as volleyball players with the Pomeroy Lady Pirates and Colton's Lady Wildcats, took some wild swings here September 29, but the orange and black prevailed in a tightly contested five-set win to start off league play.
This Tuesday's match at St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse has been canceled due to student-athletes in that program at St. John being ordered into distance learning due to covid, reports A.D. Toddette McGreevy.
The Bucs host Oakesdale tonight, Oct. 7, in the local gym with the non-league game against Asotin on Saturday canceled and a match with SJEL substituted at home, gametime noon. Colton visits Oct. 12 and Pomeroy travels to Rosalia Oct. 14.
With the win over Colton, Pomeroy's overall record is 3-1, 1-0 in league.
Set scores against the Lady Wildcats were 25-23, 18-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-8 with several Lady Pirates putting up some impressive stats in the marathon match.
Elizabeth Ruchert counted 15 kills and Jillian Herres made 29 assists and 13 digs.
Keely Maves was a powerhouse with 10 kills, 10 digs, and four aces. Chase Caruso had 15 digs and Katie Boyer was perfect with 14 for 14 serving, with one ace and five digs.
KayLee Schmidt did well at the service line with 17/18-94% serving and six digs. Clara Jentz made six6 stuff blocks. Also playing were Haliee Brewer, Taylor Gilbert, Hannah Bagby.
The Lady Pirates fell behind in game one, but rallied late to win the set and set the tone for the night, said Head Coach Adams Van Vogt. Unfortunately, after switching sides in the second set, the Pirates let Colton get the momentum back and dug a hole from which they couldn't complete the comeback.
However, Pomeroy got back to playing good volleyball later in that game and used it to start strong and play the most complete game of the night, up to that point in set 3 to go up 2-1.
The Lady Buccaneers controlled the fourth set until late when Colton used a late run to come back and eventually pull away and–all of a sudden–the winner of the night would be determined in a 15-point fifth set.
"Earlier in the season, we dropped a fifth game against Asotin for what is our lone loss to date," said Van Vogt. "Our girls came out tentative in that game that night and our goal was to learn from it and not change the way we played the next time we got a game five.
"We shined this time around," he said. "We started strong, played to win, were aggressive, and controlled the game throughout."
The game was clinched by an Elizabeth Ruchert kill–her fifteenth of the night, Van Vogt said.
"Every girl that played contributed to this win and filled the stat sheet," he said. "I think our biggest reason for winning game five was our serve receive and Chase Caruso led with her great play. She made passing look really easy in that game and when our passers don't give the other team service points and deliver a great first ball, it allows our offense to shine."
Van Vogt credited Chase, Jillian Herres, and Keely Maves with a combined 38 digs. Maves and Ruchert added 25 combined kills on offense, he said.
"We are really focusing on taking a step forward and improving every day this season and I really believe every match we've played has been better than the one before it," Van Vogt said. "It is a great accomplishment for these girls to see tangible results for their efforts and for us to get a game five after dropping one earlier this year.
"Winning this match tonight will be a great addition to their mental cookie jar that they can reach into during a tough match later and remember how to pull through and that they've done it before," he added. "It also allows us to start our league play 1-0.
"Our skills and understanding of the game have grown so much since last spring," Van Vogt said. "The key to continuing to improve will be gaining consistency in our serving, serve receive, defense, and hitting, and based on the way these girls have worked and how great their attitude has been I believe we will keep trending toward the consistency we seek."
