Cards Knock Off Panthers

WAITSBURG --The WP Lady Cardinals held on strong to take down the no. 1 ranked Asotin Panthers Tuesday night at Kison Court.

The Cardinals wasted no time getting down to business jumping to a 7-3 lead from two Ronnie Hulce kills and a serving ace from Krystal Harris.

The Panthers took its first timeout to try and break things up, but came back with a failed attack and faced another Hulce kill, putting the Cardinals up, 10-3.

Cardinal freshman Samantha Fedderson made her varsity debut with a block of Asotin's superstar Jalisa Jose, but it would sail out of bounds and the Panthers made side out.

A missed Panther serve and two kills from Cardinal Rhiannon Chapman along with two dropped volleys on Asotin's part would give the Cardinals a 16-6 lead and force Asotin to take its second time out.

Another Chapman kill and a Cardinal block combined with two more failed Panther attacks took the Cardinals to a 20-6 lead.

The Panthers rallied for points on unforced Cardinal errors, but a kill from Hulce and Harris and a double block from Harris and Dionna Baker put the Cardinals within reach of game point, 23-17.

Another Harris kill and a lift call of the Panthers would seal a game one victory for the Cardinals, 25-20.

The Panthers took the first three points of game two with kills and Harris said "enough" and sent a kill and a serving ace to the Panthers to tie the game at 3.

The Cardinals found themselves in the net and Jose sent two kills to the Cardinals before Fedderson blocked Jose at the net again to put the Cardinals down 6-7.

The Cardinals would continue to chase the Panthers with a kill from Chapman and Baker, but four Panther kills and two failed Cardinal attacks would give the Panther a 14-9 lead and forced the Cardinals to take a time out.

A kill from Fedderson and two from Hulce along with four unforced Panther errors put the Cardinals behind, 16-19.

Harris connected for another kill, but the Panthers took a game two victory 25-18with a serving ace two kills and a block on a Hulce attack that fell in the Cardinal court.

The Panthers jumped to an 11-4 lead in game three with two serving aces, four kills and two blocks on the Cardinals.

The Cardinals sparked some offense with back-to-back kills from Harris and Sarah Mascall, but the Panthers answered with two kills of their own to jump to a 15-6 lead.

Although the Panthers once again struggled with serving, they continued to attack the Cardinals with a vengeance and took a game three victory 25-16 with a serving ace.

Hulce sent a screamer to the Panthers that they couldn't touch, and Chapman tipped a block back into the Panther court and the Cardinals continued to shut down the Panthers 14-4 giving the Panthers no choice but to take another timeout.

The Panthers came back to score three unanswered points with two kills and a serving ace but Harris sent a tip down the net line and Chapman racked up a serving ace to set the Cardinals on their way to a 19-9 lead. The Panthers rallied with two serving aces and four kills, but were unable to return a volley to the Cardinals and had a block go out of bounds to give the Cardinals a game four win, 25-17.

Asotin opened up game five with two kills, but the Cardinals answered with a Hulce kill and three serving aces from Mascall to take a 6-3 lead and force the Panthers into a timeout.

Chapman threw down two kills to take the Cardinals to an 11-6 lead and another Panther timeout.

The pressure was on for the big red birds, but the Panthers botched the next serve and the Cardinals erupted in screams and cheers to celebrate a longawaited victory.

"It's really exciting to get this win," said Harris. "We changed up our line up a little bit to have a bigger front row and it worked."

"This feels amazing," said Chapman. "As a personal goal I worked on not letting any frustration show out on the court and just stayed tuned into the game I needed to play."

"Sam was a great addition to our front-row defense tonight," said Chapman. "She does a great job getting her hands on the ball at the net and that's what we needed tonight."

Hulce led with 11 kills, 21 digs, and four blocks. Huxull threw up 15 assists and dug up 7 attacks.

Harris had 10 kills, 6 digs, and 3 aces while Chapman had 7 kills. Baker had 6 kills, 6 blocks, and 6 digs while Mascall had 100 percent serving.

The Cardinals next challenge on their way to bid for a home playoff game will be next Tuesday in Walla Walla against the DeSales Fighting Irish at 6 p.m.