Dayton Girls Continue Winning Streak

WALLA WALLA - The Bulldogs Varsity volleyball team improved its record to 6-3 Tuesday night after beating Walla Walla Valley Academy in four games 25-22, 25-22, 20-25 and 25-20. Although head coach Shannon Turner said the win over the Knights wasn't her team's best of the season, the Bulldogs are keeping up their discipline and momentum this fall. On Thursday night, they beat the Asotin Panthers during their Homecoming match in three games 25-17, 25-21 and 25-22. In their away game against Asotin earlier this season, the Bull­dogs

were denied victory by two controversial points. But on Thursday night, the Bull­dogs simply put their long-distance opponents away. "It was sweet," Turner said. "They did everything we work so hard on in prac­tice."

Not that it was easy. Af­ter winning the first two games handily, the Bulldogs suddenly faced a Panthers team determined to claw its way back in the third game. Asotin took an early lead and Dayton stayed behind by as many as seven points until the score began to turn around at 15-8 in favor of Asotin and the Bulldogs began to close the gap with digs, setups and a steady, organized response to the Panthers' offense.

Dayton equalized the score at 18-18 then pulled ahead and beat the Panthers 25-22 after a final unforced error did in the Asotin team.

"It was a good win be­cause it taught them never to give up," Turner said. Several Bulldogs said their team has come together and gotten in sync with the veteran players keeping up the younger team members' spirits.

"We let them know it's okay to make mistakes and encourage them to keep up our momentum," Junior Libero Nicole Lambert said. "With the right motivation, we have the ability to beat every team in the league." Senior Kayla Turner said the team is learning how to stay composed, "and not get ahead of ourselves." Turner and Amanda Melton, who have been play­ing together for three years now, said they are com­fortable together at the net, knowing who's going to cover without even commu­Amanda nicating verbally. Coach Turner also knows the team well enough to match players on the court and give breaks to those who need it. She is a coach "who takes us somewhere," Melton said.

Winning the third game in a row in every match is the Bulldogs' biggest challenge, Lambert said. "We feel we're already there, so it's hard to keep the momentum." But particularly with a Homecoming crowd show­ing its enthusiasm from the sideline, "we knew we could do it," she said. "We have to prove to the crowd and the coaches that we want this more than the other team. We feed off the crowd. It felt great to defeat a team that was cocky and undefeated."

Dayton vs Asotin

25-17, 25-21, 25-22

Nicole Lambert: 10/10 serv­ing,

15 digs

Sarah Mascall: 10/10 serv­ing,

1 ace and 2 kills

Kayla Turner: 15/17 serv­ing,

3 aces, 11 kills and 9 assists

Darci Hall: 14/16 serving, 1 ace, 15 assists and 3 kills

Amanda Melton: 6 kills, 1 ace

McKayla Bickelhaupt: 3 kills, 5 digs

Shelby Smith: 5 kills

Jessica Tate: 5 digs

Dayton vs WWVA

25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20

Sarah Mascall: 3 aces, 4 kills

Shelby Smith: 3 aces, 4 blocks

McKayla Bickelhaupt: 10 kills, 7 digs

Amanda Melton: 4 kills, 2 blocks

Kayla Turner: 9 assists, 15 kills

Jessica Tate: 5 digs

Nicole Lambert: 15 digs

Darci Hall: 3 kills, 16 as­sists.