The Dalles volleyball player Audrey Synon lunges for a net hit during varsity action at Kurtz Gym. Tuesday in The Dalles, the Lady Riverhawks came away with a 15-9 fifth-set win to claim a league victory over Hermiston.
The Dalles volleyball player Audrey Synon lunges for a net hit during varsity action at Kurtz Gym. Tuesday in The Dalles, the Lady Riverhawks came away with a 15-9 fifth-set win to claim a league victory over Hermiston.
Jodi Thomasian and Bailey LeBreton combined for 30 kills, and Lindsi Logue added 26 assists in The Dalles’ five-set league win over Hermiston Tuesday at Kurtz Gym.
Five different Riverhawk players had kills in the contest and eight players tacked on multiple digs in the match.
“Our serve-receive and defense was much improved tonight,” said TD head coach Neticia Fanene. “When we are able to get the ball to target, we have all the opportunities in the world to put the ball on the floor. If we can continue to keep the ball off the floor, our offense can gain momentum.”
Both teams alternated wins through the first four sets, with Hermiston taking the fourth, 25-23.
In the fifth set, TD took control and ended up scoring a 15-9 win to get its second league win of the year and all but secure a state play-in berth.
TD won the opener by a 25-16 score, and Hermiston evened things up at 1-apiece following a 25-22 output.
The third set went in the Hawks’ favor, 25-22, but the Lady Bulldogs (2-10 overall, 0-4 league) pushed things to a fifth set after their 25-23 winner.
“The encouraging part about tonight is that we stayed positive the entire match,” Fanene added. “The team knows what needs to be done. They do a great job of focusing on the skill in front of them.”
Thomasian finished with 18 kills, two block assists, five digs and two aces, and LeBreton added 12 kills, two block assists, six digs, an ace and two assists.
Audrey Synon had four kills, a block, four block assists, three assists, an ace and eight digs, and Kathryn Bradford was good for three kills, two aces and five digs.
Eliana Ortega dropped three kills, two aces and a dig, Lauryn Belanger hit for two digs and an assist, and Hannah Wallis notched a pair of digs.
With 13 digs, an ace and an assist was Kilee Hoylman, and Logue tacked on four aces and five digs to go with her 26 assists.
Although Fanene is happy to get the second league victory, she said her goal is to have her group not focused on their current record, but on how they can improve before the next match.
“Tonight, we praised our passing, but knew we were far from our top playing ability,” Fanene said. “We are identifying all the pieces separately and are working to put them all together. Minimizing our unforced errors has been the key to our success, missed serves, hitting errors, in the net calls, etc. We understand that if we keep our errors down, then momentum stays on our side and we ultimately play better.”
The Dalles (3-6, 2-2) hosts No. 10 Pendleton (7-2, 3-1) at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.