While it’s important for the Cheney volleyball team to get defensive touches, it’s what they do with the ball on offense that is key to the Lady Hawks’ success.
Tuesday against Deer Park the Lady Hawks had 27 digs, many of those getting turned into offensive points in Cheney’s 3-0 win over the Stags. Thursday against fourth-ranked Colville Cheney managed 33 digs, but struggled to turn those touches into kills in losing in straight sets to the Indians.
Tuesday, Cheney played consistent volleyball in all facets of the game, serving and defending aggressively with opportunistic hitting in its 25-20, 25-12, 25-16 win over visiting Deer Park. The Lady Hawks recorded 10 aces while notching 25 kills against six errors for a .328 hitting percentage.
“We didn’t really have any let ups in that match,” head coach Brianne Lowe said. “I was pretty happy how they fought from start to finish.”
Ashley Seiler had nine kills, with Liz Gill adding six and Sami Sheffels four. Kinsey Pease had 17 assists, with Kendall Case eight. Gill had five aces and Morgan Davis three with Pease getting two blocks. Pease and Davis both had five digs, with a number of other players each having 3-4.
“A lot of people contributed on the defensive side,” Lowe said, adding that Deer Park served very well. “We just did a better job of pushing through that kind of weakness and overcoming in other areas then they did.”
Thursday against the unbeaten Indians it was a different story. Against Deer Park Cheney’s digs led to points, but against Colville they were simply trying to get the ball back over the net, leading to the Indians getting good swings and playing their system for the 25-12, 25-10, 25-18 win.
Cheney hit just .130 for the match and committed 11 reception errors on Colville serves, struggling to pass effectively. Seiler led the Lady Hawks in kills with six, Case in assists with 13, Gill and Case in digs with seven each, Madison Risley in blocks with three while Seiler, Case and Gill each had an ace.
The split keeps Cheney in fourth place in the Great Northern League standings at 4-4. Friday and Saturday the Lady Hawks took a break, at least from league play, to take part in the annual Spokane Crossover Tournament.
While not counting in league, the Lady Hawks nonetheless played a lot of volleyball, opening pool play with a close loss to Central Valley, winning the first set but losing the last two. Saturday Cheney, missing several players who were taking their SAT tests, looked a little uncertain on the court in losing 2-0 to the 2A classification’s top-ranked team, West Valley-Yakima. They rebounded against Colton, beating the Wildcats in two games to advance to the Silver Bracket as the third-place team out of their pool.
The Lady Hawks then beat Tekoa-Oaksdale 2-1, lost to Cascade (Leavenworth) 2-0 and ended with a one-set, 25-15 win over Ferris to finish tied for seventh in the bracket, 39th overall.
Cheney has just one match this week, but it’s a big one with second-place East Valley, 7-1, 7-3 on the road. Cheney lost 3-1 to the Knights Sept. 20, and Lowe said they must be stronger with their serve/receive and convert digs into points to have success against the seventh-ranked 2A team in the state.
“We have no easy matches from here on out,” she said. “No team in our league allows you to play poorly against them and beat them.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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