Dayton Victors Of The Valley

DAYTON- The sultry heat outside was no comparison to the heat inside the Dayton gym last Wednesday night as the WP Cardinals and the Dayton Bulldogs went head-to-head battling point-for-point in their season opener. Dayton came out on top, winning the match in five games.

Waitsburg scored first in the opener and kept the lead until Dayton went on a scoring spree and tied the game up at 14. Dayton rode that momentum to a 17-14 lead.

After a series of long vollies the Cardinals got the serve back and tied the game up again at 18, but WP's Krystal Harris dribbled a serve just over the net to score and the Cardinals took back the lead, 19-18.

With the Cardinals still controlling the serve, Dayton was called for its fifth in the net call, keeping the Cardinal momentum strong.

The two teams battled back and forth until the Cardinals had game point, 24- 23. A shanked serve from the Bulldogs gave the Cardinals game one. The Dayton crowd only used the loss to fuel their fire and the gym erupted in a cheering match between the two rival schools. The energy from the crowd carried over into the court as the two teams continued to duel. With Dayton on game point 24-17, WP shanked the Dayton serve giving the Bulldogs game two.

The Bulldogs began game three struggling to communicate on the court and quickly fell behind the Cardinals, 7-3. After a series of long vollies that were filled with attacks from WP's Ronnie Hulce and Dayton's McKayla Bickelhaupt, the Cardinals had game point, 24-19.

With Dayton needing to score to stay alive, Bulldog Jessica Tate was subbed into the serving position. This turned out to be the key to Dayton's game three victory. Tate, who served 22 for 22 for the night with five aces, would serve 7 unanswered points for a comefrom behind game three win, 26-24.

Dayton jumped to an early lead in game four, but the Cardinals attack at the net led by Hulce would earn them a 16-11 lead.

The Cardinals had game point 24-17, and a kill from Hulce would tie up the match sending the crowd into hysteria and the match to game five. The Cardinals were first to score but their lack of communication would soon help the Bulldogs to a 7-4 lead. The Bulldogs continued to find holes in the Cardinal defense and kept the momentum in their favor.

The Bulldogs took the match with a game five victory 15-11.

Bickelhaupt led the Bulldogs with 16 kills and 13 digs. Tate had 17 digs of her own along with her perfect serving night.

Nicole Lambert came away with the dirtiest knees of the night with 18 digs and racked up eight kills. Shelby Smith had eight kills of her own and led the team with three blocks. Darci Hall lended a hand with 19 assists.

"The girls played very well tonight," said Dayton head coach Shannon Turner. "They had times when they quit communicating and that hurt them, but I'm pleased with the way they played."

On the Cardinal side of things Ronnie Hulce led all attackers with 12 kills. Dionna Baker contributed six kills and Sara Mascall had five kills. Krystal Harris also had five kills and three serving aces. Kayla Huxull led all players with 26 assists for the night.

"It would've been nice to have a non-league match prior to starting up but the girls played hard," said Waitsburg head coach Angie Potts. "After last night, I'm even more excited for the season."

"The girls had great attitudes," said Potts.