The Cheney High volleyball team opened their season this week with a loss to East Valley 3-0 in their first league match of the season, Sept. 11, then traveled to Northern Idaho to compete in the Lakeland Invite.
Last year the Blackhawks went 1-1 against East Valley. The Lady Knights came into this match with some action under their belts. They competed in an invitational tournament, Sept. 5, at Central Valley High School, then lost to University.
Cheney began the first set with an ace from Kimber Case, her first of three during the match. The Blackhawks managed to keep it close, trading the lead with East Valley for most of the set. The Lady Knights pulled away with the lead late in the set. Although Cheney started to gain some momentum, they couldn’t catch up to East Valley. The Knights came away with the win, 25-22.
East Valley took an early lead in the second set and won 25-12.
The Blackhawks began the third set with an early lead. Despite good defense at the net and good serving, East Valley took the lead and the set, 25-19.
Hailey Bridges lead the team with four kills. Katie McGourin, Ari Rich and Kayla Lemelin each had a block. Case led the team with 10 digs.
Although the match didn’t quite go as planned, volleyball head coach Courtney Webb said it was good for her team to get that first match out of the way.
“There were moments where we played solid, which I was happy,” Webb said. “I would have liked to win, but that’s how it goes. We know what we need to work on.”
Cheney didn’t fare much better at the Lakeland Invite. They lost to Reardan in their first match, 2-1. The set scores were 25-17, 23-25 and 12-15.
In their second match of the tournament, The Blackhawks fell to former GNL rivals Deer Park 2-1. The set scores were 12-25, 25-16 and 13-15. Individual statistics from the game were unavailable. Cheney also dropped games to Sandpoint and Kellogg at the tournament. Scores and statistics for those games are unavailable.
After the Blackhawks travel to Clarkston for their first road game of the season, Sept. 16, they head north to face Northwest Christian Thursday (Sept. 18). This is the first time Cheney will play NWC in volleyball. NWC comes into the match with a win over Rogers.
The Blackhawks return home, Tuesday, Sept. 23, to host West Valley. In 2013, Cheney beat the Eagles twice during the regular season. WV began their year with losses to Mt. Spokane and Pullman.
Webb said her players are getting practice in different roles and now the focus is closing the matches and getting the win. This week the team will focus on set up, serving and defense.
“We have some strong hitters and our attack is pretty strong,” Webb said. “We have a lot of hustlers.
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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