Ontario volleyball squad drops three to Burns
Parma defeats New Plymouth, Weiser better than Homedale
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:35 AM PDT
Argus Observer sports staff
Ontario—The Ontario Tigers volleyball team hosted the Burns Hilanders Tuesday and came away being swept 25-19, 25-20 and 25-15.
“The girls played really hard,” Ontario head coach Katie Branch said. “Burns is a very good team.”
Despite the loss, Branch said her team never gave up in the match, and she was proud the team hung in against a solid Burns team.
Burns, ranked fourth in the 3A polls, came into Ontario with a 16-2 overall record and winners of 13 of its past 14 games, all 13 by way of sweeps.
“We made them work for every point, and we were not intimidated,” Branch said.
For the Lady Tigers, Leila Feibert led the team with five kills, while teammate Kendra Babcock added four.
Hailey Reever handed out 16 assists, and Babcock and Ashley Rock both pulled 10 digs in the loss.
Erika Hopper and Ali Babij each logged two solo blocks against the Hilanders.
“I am really happy with how we played,” Branch said. “We have a very busy week coming up with Weiser on Thursday, the La Grande tournament on Saturday, followed by homecoming week and the start of league games with Baker and La Grande.”
With the loss, Ontario fell to 1-7 on the year.
Parma 3, New Plymouth 2
In a classic Western Idaho Conference volleyball battle, the New Plymouth Lady Pilgrims and the Parma Panther girls battled for five games to determine the winner Tuesday in New Plymouth.
In the end, it was the defending 2A state champion Panthers who prevailed with a 3-2 win.
New Plymouth won the opening match 25-22, only to have Parma take Game 2, 25-14.
In the third matchup, the Lady Pilgrims were the victors, with a 25-15 win.
Things changed for New Plymouth in the fourth match, when Megan Forsberg went down with a shoulder injury, taking her 10 kills with her and some of the steam out of the Pilgrims sails as Parma went on to win the final two games, 27-17 and 15-9.
“After Megan went down, we had to play some girls in positions they were not used to playing in,” New Plymouth head coach Paula Leppert said.
The coach added Forsberg injured her shoulder, but she does not know how bad the injury is, or for how long the leader will be out.
Sienna Edmunson led the team with 13 kills and three aces, Adia Campbell pitched in with 19 digs, while Lauren Arnzen added 20 assists in the loss.
With the loss, the Pilgrims fall to 2-3 in the WIC and to 5-4 overall.
Up next for New Plymouth is a road trip to Cole Valley tonight.
Weiser 3, Homedale 1
In Weiser, the Lady Wolverines needed four games to dispatch the Homedale Trojans. Weiser won the opening game, 25-19, only to have Homedale come back in Game 2, 25-19, to tie the match at one win each.
However, it was all Weiser in the final two games as the Wolverines won Game 3, 25-20, and Game 4, 25-17.
With the win, Weiser moved its Snake River Valley Conference record to 5-1, with its only loss coming against undefeated Fruitland.
Leading Weiser in the win were Brittany Dominguez with 17 kills and two blocks, Liz Richens pitched in with 12 digs, 19 assists and two blocks.
Paige Jensen added eight service aces for Weiser.
“We played very well,” Weiser head coach Chris Courter said. “We started out a little slow, but we rebounded well.”
Up next for the Lady Wolverines is the La Grande tournament on Saturday, then a showdown with Fruitland on Tuesday.
