Lady Pirates battle for win over SJEL

POMEROY––Sole ownership of second place in the Southeast 1B was at stake when St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse visited last week, and the Lady Pirates kept up its aggressiveness for a four-set win.

This week Colton visited last Tuesday (results next week) and tonight, October 13, the Lady Buccaneers sail to Oakesdale for a league contest. Tekoa-Rosalia comes to Pomeroy Tuesday, Oct. 18.

The Pirates are now 4-1 in league, 13-4 overall.

"We've set a goal to focus on good process and getting better each time we play and I think that we are doing this well," said Head Coach Adam Van Vogt, in light of the win over SJEL. The Lady Pirates rallied to win a close fourth set, 25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 27-25.

"Our crowd was amazing and cheered loudly the whole time and we matched their energy," Van Vogt said. "Each game was close but we found a way to win 3 out of 4 to emerge victorious.

"I thought the keys to the game were that we limited our mistakes," the coach stated, "especially from the serving line, and we stayed aggressive the whole night and forced the action. We also never got down and when they got a point or two we just went back at it and battled to take it back."

It was a team effort, Van Vogt said. Highlighting the win were three players with kills in double digits: Kendall Dixon, Haliee Brewer and Taylor Gilbert.

Jillian Herres notched a phenomenal 44 assists.

"I also want to give a shout out to our serve receivers and defense as they kept giving consistently good passes all night," Van Vogt said.

Besides the great night in assists, Herres added 12 digs and was a perfect 24 of 24 serving with four aces.

Dixon also was sharp serving, 100% in 15 serves and two aces.

Clara Jentz was tough at the net with six blocks, Chase Caruso counted 19 digs, KayLee Schmidt had eight digs, and Brewer counted six digs.

The Lady Pirates cruised to a three-set win over the Tekoa-Rosalia Lady Timberwolves there Oct. 4, 25-8, 25-18, 25-8.

Pomeroy rolled to a strong game-one win then relaxed mentally, Van Vogt said, in set two. "We were more sloppy, especially at the serve line, and they competed with us," Van Vogt said. "I was very pleased with how we finished game two and we were able to carry that focus over into a game three."

Herres was perfect in 21 service with seven–count 'em–seven aces, and a dozen assists.

Dixon was good 15 of 16 serves with a pair of aces, and made four kills at the net.

Schmidt served seven of seven and an ace.

Defensively, Jentz rejected six TR kill attempts, nailed three kills, and was 9/10 at the service line with two aces. Hannah Bagby made three blocks and one kill.

Caruso was 12/13 serving with an ace and made 10 digs.