DUFUR – Entering Tuesday’s Big Sky Conference showdown versus Sherman, the Dufur volleyball team had been mired in a streak of four losses in its last five matches, two by sweep.
The No. 13-ranked Lady Rangers were on their game Tuesday against the Huskies, battling it out for a three-game sweep in a match played at Dufur High School.
“I saw a lot tonight. They really showed up, especially after our matches on Saturday,” said Dufur head coach Jody Weaver. “We came out wanting to make a statement and really wanting to come back from that and redeem ourselves. We came out and did it. We stuck together as a team through the whole match, played for each other and did some good things.”
Overall, the Rangers made good on 94.5 percent of their serves with 19 aces, and also tallied 26 kills from five different players.
The team also had three blocks, seven digs and a passing average of 2.28.
Dufur staked claim to the opening set with the service line completion rate standing out.
Kayla Bailey had an ace to increase the Ranger lead to 12-4 and Chloe Beeson added another ace shot to give Dufur a 17-5 cushion.
Sherman’s Jasmine Wilson had a kill and teammate Brittney Orendorff completed back-to-back aces to inch the Huskies to a 20-12 deficit.
With Dufur ahead 23-13, senior hitter Tianna Ellis served an ace and Karaline Johnson followed with a block to the floor to give Dufur a 25-15 win in the opening set.
The momentum kept growing for the Rangers in Game 2, as they held leads of 10-5, 18-8 and 21-9.
Ellis took control down the stretch with a kill and three straight aces to move Dufur to a 25-9 win and a commanding 2-0 match lead.
Sherman stayed close through the opening portions of the third set, as Meghan Belshe slammed down a kill to cut Dufur’s lead to 8-5.
Beeson then capped a 4-1 run with consecutive aces and Johnson added a kill to run the count to 14-7.
Ellis later chipped in a block and had a kill in two straight points, and then Alexus Outlaw ended a rally with a kill and Dufur was within two points of a sweep, leading 23-13.
Sherman committed a serve-receive error on the next serve from Sydnee Byers, and then the freshman right side player rifled a serve to the floor for an ace on the next point to complete the Ranger sweep.
With Bailey stepping up to the forefront of late, Weaver has also been impressed by the play of other underclassmen like Outlaw, Haili Wolf-DePriest, Byers, Beeson and Kimberly Johnson.
“I am seeing a lot of growth in my younger players,” Weaver said. “The freshmen are really stepping it up and I am really excited. I have actually been impressed with the confidence they have had. I ask them to come right in and step it up and they have come in and played consistently. I know I can count on them at any time to be ready to go and be willing to play. It is huge for me to have them.”
Beeson led Dufur with seven aces and she tacked on seven kills and two digs, and Ellis went for four aces, 10 kills and two blocks.
Byers had two aces, Karaline Johnson tallied two aces, six kills and a block and Sydney Reed had three aces, two kills, two digs and 26 assists.
Sherman’s Desiree Winslow had 17 digs to lead her team, and Orendorff added four kills and three aces, and both Wilson and Belshe had three kills each.
“I was very impressed with the girls,” said Sherman head coach Carrie Danchok. “They didn’t back down. We did lots of hard rallies and we were within every point. Dufur had to bring their toughest serves to slow us down, which didn’t happen often. We were able to rally with them, we were in the right positions for defense and we made a lot of crazy things happen for our benefit.”
Sherman has started the season with seven losses in its first nine matches.
The Huskies still have 12 more matches left on the schedule to find a rhythm on the court and get things going for a playoff run.
“It is extremely important to stay positive and not worry about a loss or a bad set,” Orendorff said. “We have so many new freshmen on the team and they are still learning different things. I think it is going to take a while for us to come together because we are still working on replacing the players we lost from last year. The freshmen are really going to help us because of their work ethic and their ability to fill in their spots. I think it is definitely going to improve as the season goes.”
Saturday Sherman (2-7 overall, 0-2 league) heads to Condon for a three-way dual versus Condon and Mitchell starting at noon.
After tonight’s match in Lyle, Dufur (5-6, 2-0) Saturday heads out to Arlington for a dual versus Ione and Arlington at 10 a.m.
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