Wolverines battle back
Wednesday, September 7, 2005 2:20 PM PDT
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| john braese | argus observer
Weiser's Kayla Branstetter (1) and Natalie Wilkins (2)
attempt to block a kill attempt by Vale's Elisa Mooney during Tuesday night's nonconference volleyball match. The Wolverines, after a slow start, beat the Vikings in a five-set match. |
John Braese Argus Observer
WEISER
Things looked to be going Vale's way early, but the Weiser volleyball team had the final say. The Wolverines overcame a first-set loss to post a five-set win, 16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 17-25, 15-7, on Tuesday at Weiser High School.
"I was pleased with the girls' efforts after the first game," Weiser head coach Jon Lundberg said. "It would have been easy to roll over. After that first game, I kept telling them we could get back in and take the match. We did not really play well overall, we just played good enough to win."
Starting the second game, the Vikings opened the set on an 8-2 run. But the Wolverines had other ideas, pushing forward and finally taking the lead at the 16-15 mark. From there, after a see-saw battle, Weiser finally took the second game of the match to tie up the series.
In the third set, Vale, again, started strong, building an 8-0 lead, before Weiser found its stride.
"Mary Ann (Standage) does a great job in Vale," Lundberg said. "We have the same philosophies and both teams play hard. We feel lucky to come away with a win tonight."
Standage was equally complimentary about Weiser and the coaching staff.
"Weiser is very disciplined," Standage said after the match. "They just basically beat you by less mistakes. This was out first full match and good for us."
Standage said the use of multiple offensive sets caused more errors for her team, but that, in the long run, the new offense will pay off for the Vikings.
"We will probably lose some close ones early in the season," Standage said. "But, we have the athletes that will make the plays for us down the stretch."
The Vikings pushed into the fourth game, jumping out to a 5-2 lead, before extending the lead to 19-11 at one point. Vale held on for the win, forcing the match into the fifth and deciding game.
In the fifth, both teams played point for point until Weiser took the lead for good at 6-5. From there, the Wolverines pushed on for a 15-7 game.
Luci DeLong had 13 kills for the Vikings, while Elisa Mooney added eight. Amy Barlow was a perfect 24-for-24 from the service line for Vale.
The Wolverines' Allie Courtier had 15 kills, while Elise Overgaard added seven. Christa Tolman led all players with 41 assists.
The Wolverines (2-2 overall) travel to Ontario on Thursday in a tri-match with Ontario and Nampa Christian. Vale (0-1 overall) meets Ontario and Nyssa in the Burns tournament on Saturday.
