First-place Cheney volleyball defeats West Valley

The Cheney High volleyball team finally shook the monkey off their backs that is Great Northern League rival West Valley.

The Blackhawks (6-1 GNL, 8-1 overall) defeated the Eagles, 3-1, Oct. 3, avenging a Sept. 15 loss and cementing the top spot in the league. They ended the week with a fourth-place finish in the silver bracket of the 23rd annual Linda Sheridan Volleyball Classic, Oct. 8.

Cheney’s win over West Valley (25-23, 24-26, 25-22 and 25-19) did not come easy. After the Blackhawks won a close first set, they dropped the second and rallied to win the next two.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win,” head coach Heather Zorrozua said. “Our outside hitters had trouble. There’s that one team that you have trouble focusing on and struggling against during the season, and this year it’s West Valley.”

Rylie Pease led her team with 13 kills while Peyton Stark had 33 assists. Stark and Taylor Gould notched two aces each.

Pease and Stark also shined on defense, having 17 digs each while KD Skillingstad recorded three blocks.

“We’re spending more time in practice doing things to strengthen our focus,” Zorrozua said. “It was nice to show up and do our job against West Valley. When someone was struggling, the team picked them back up. It was nice to see that.”

Cheney began the Sheridan Classic by going 1-2 in pool play, losing to Colfax (26-24, 25-19 and 16-14) and Lewiston (no score provided), and defeating Lakeland (19-25, 25-23 and 15-10).

“Going into the tournament, we heard about how amazing Colfax was and my girls will sometimes let that outside talk get to them,” Zorrozua said. “After losing the first set we managed to step up in the second. In that third set there were some outside factors that got to us.”

In the silver bracket, Cheney had back-to-back wins over Liberty and Othello (no scores provided) before losing to Ferris (no score provided) in the semi-finals. They lost to Timberlake (25-21) in the third-place match.

Stats from the Sheridan Classic were not available as of press time.

“That was a good opportunity for us to play other teams and I don’t think there was a team we couldn’t have beaten in the tournament,” Zorrozua said. “We also saw things we can focus on as we head into the last round of league.”

Cheney traveled to East Valley, Oct. 11 to play the fourth-place Knights (3-4, 4-4). They begin the final round of GNL play on the road against second-place Pullman (5-2, 7-4) tonight (Oct. 13), followed by a home match against Clarkston (1-7, 1-8) on Senior Day, Oct. 15.

“It’s a busy week and I’m looking forward to it,” Zorrozua said. “I’m looking forward to regrouping and continuing to focus on us as a team and what we can do to be successful.”

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].