Lady Hawks chase away demons en route to downing Deer Park

By JOHN McCALLUM

Editor

It's a good thing Cheney volleyball head coach Cassie Hare checked the fine print when she signed her contract to coach the Lady Hawks three years ago.

Especially the part that read “extra duties.” Those duties apparently include exorcism, or something close, at least in the Lady Hawks performance in game one of their match last Thursday with visiting Deer Park.

“We couldn't really tell where it was coming from but there was a real negative energy on our side of the court,” Hare said Monday night. “I can't explain it.”

What she could explain to her team prior to game two was how to overcome it. That was by simply changing focus.

“I told them I didn't care what it looked like, just come away with a win,” Hare said. “Just go out and have some fun.”

And fun the Lady Hawks had. After looking confused in a 21-25 game one loss, Cheney seemed the epitome of inspiration by holding off the Lady Stags (0-5, 0-6) 25-17 in game two and showed no quarter in 25-12, 25-9 game three and four wins to post their second Great Northern League match victory of the season.

The Lady Hawks got some solid serving, particularly from Liz Gill who led the team with four aces and helped Cheney pull away from Deer Park with several good runs in the final three games. Sydney Barrow paced Cheney at the net with 14 kills, while Sayde Davis had 21 assists and 12 digs – the last stat something Hare considered a bonus.

“Her defense was great that night,” she said. “She put everything into her defense.”

Sami Sheffels and Katie Shueman each had a block. Cheney had 26 kills against 15 errors on 70 attempts for a .157 hitting percentage.

For Hare it was a much better performance than the Lady Hawks turned in Tuesday at East Valley. The Lady Hawks missed an uncharacteristically high 19 serves, crucial potential points that could have made a difference in back and forth games in the 18-25, 25-17, 13-25, 25-27 loss to the Lady Knights (4-2, 5-3).

“On average maybe we miss two per game, but that was ridiculous. That was tough,” Hare said.

Gill led Cheney with nine kills, with Davis adding eight kills to go with 29 assists. Chaz Diomede had a pair of aces; Ashley Rohner 11 digs with Baylie Puyear getting six blocks. Cheney had 34 kills against 22 errors on 102 attempts for a .118 hitting percentage.

Hare said Davis and Kaitlyn Hohrman both had consistent, solid performances in the middle. She attributed her team's serving woes to a lack of focus, something that disappeared Thursday night after game one.

The split gives the Lady Hawks a 2-3 record in the GNL, 3-4 overall, with a pair of key matches this week. Cheney traveled to Clarkston on Tuesday to face the Lady Bantams, 2-3, 2-3, and stays on the road to begin the second round of league matches by traveling to West Valley, 5-0, 7-0 on Thursday.

Hare said Clarkston plays strong from the outside, with Cheney needing to counter that through solid defense and establishing the middle on offense.

West Valley is likely still riding high from its five-game upset of defending 2A state champion Pullman, but probably not so high as to look past Cheney. Hare feels the Lady Hawks played their worst game of the season in a three-game home loss to the Lady Eagles on Sept. 14, and hopes to go into West Valley with a “loud and proud” approach.

“I think that is going to be a redemptive game,” she said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].