Dayton Is First In League

DAYTON -- In a victory that showed little doubt who dominates the league, the Bulldogs beat Walla Walla Valley Academy in three games Tuesday night despite a late rally from the Knights.

That win and Asotin's defeat at the hands of Waitsburg Prescott the same night propelled Dayton to the no. 1 spot in the Blue Mountain League.

"So far so good," Bulldogs' head coach Shannon Turner said after Tuesday's game. "I like the direction we're going."

The Bulldogs are now 8-1, the best record in the league after the Panthers fell 7-2 following the Cardinals' victory on Kison Court.

But after losing to Asotin at home earlier this season, Dayton had to dig deep to overcome the Panthers in their den.

The Dayton Lady Bulldogs were barking up a storm after handing the Asotin Panthers its first loss of the season last Thursday night.

The battle began with the Bulldogs scoring first on a Nicole Lambert serving ace. The Bulldogs kept focused and communicated well, keeping its blocking and attacking coverage strong.

Asotin was having trouble landing its serves in bounds and the referees weren't letting anything slide as Asotin was repeatedly called for lifts and double hits.

The Bulldogs had the opportunity to take game one with the score 24-20, but Asotin's Jalisa Jose sent an attack to Bulldog Courtney Mings that just had too much on it.

It took 12 more plays to finish game one, with Asotin winning, 30-28.

The Bulldogs scored first in game two from another missed Asotin serve. A kill from McKayla Bickelhaupt and three straight serving aces from her would give the Bulldogs a 12-8 lead.

The two teams exchanged missed serves and kills to a 20- all tie, but the Bulldogs missed the next serve and the Panthers took the lead, 21-20.

The Bulldogs took back the lead, 23-22, with a Lambert kill, but was then called for a double hit two plays later to put the Panthers at game point.

Asotin's McKayla Swearingen sent an attack deep into the Bulldogs' left corner for the game-winning kill taking game two, 25-23.

Down two games, it was do-or-die time for the Bulldogs and they came out biting in game three.

Seven unforced Panther errors and two kills from Darci Hall contributed to a 14-6 early Bulldog lead.

The Panthers pulled it together for a six-point rally, but another missed serve and a Bickelhaupt kill still had the Bulldogs up, 16-12.

Bulldog Mings dug up a gruesome Jose attack and the Bulldogs returned it to the Panther court and scored once more when the Panthers literally dropped the ball. The Bulldogs widened the gap, 21-13.

A serving ace from Bickelhaupt and a kill from Lexie Ramirez put the Bulldogs at game point and they took game three 25-14, after a Panther attack went deep out of bounds.

The Bulldogs benefited from five unforced Panthers errors in the beginning of game four and kills from Bickelhaupt, Mings and Shelby Smith gave them an 11-6 lead.

The Panthers rallied with two serving aces and six kills on the way to a 19-all tie,

Bickelhaupt used her tip down the net line to take back the lead and the Bulldogs pumped out one of their 90 digs of the night to put them up by two.

An illegal attack and double hit call on Asotin's Jose put two more on the board for the Bulldogs, but they missed an attack and a block fell on their side and the game was soon tied at 24.

Another lift call on the Panthers put the Bulldogs at game point and they took a game four win 26-24 from a Panther attack sailing deep out of bounds.

The Bulldogs were first to light the board in game five and faced three ties with the Panthers throughout the game on its way to a16-14 victory.

It was a see-saw point for point game that had kills from Lambert, Bickelhaupt and more serving aces from Chelsea Wooldridge.

The Bulldogs spent the week preparing its hitting and blocking coverage and it showed on the court. They did an excellent job keeping tabs on attackers and they communicated and flowed on the court.

"We're really starting to play as a team and seeing things on the court that we practice every day," Turner said. "We are getting stronger on the net each game and continuing to play good defense.

"Winning games 3, 4, and 5 after losing the first two was a huge step. I'm seeing progress every match that we play."

Bickelhaupt racked up 10 kills, 19 digs, and 6 serving aces. Hall was hot on her heals with 6 kills, 18 digs, and 9 assists. Lambert threw in 6 kills, 16 digs, and 2 serving aces while Shelby Smith was glued to the net with 4 blocks and threw down 6 kills.

Jessica Tate had 100 percent serving and got her knees dirty with 18 digs.

Freshman Sarah Phillips contributed 5 digs and Lexie Ramirez added 3 kills.

Dayton was off to a comfortable start against WWVA on Tuesday night, winning the first game 25-9. A variety of Bulldogs kills and aces overcame the Knights' dysfunctional opposition.

Dayton started more slowly in game two, but warmed up to take the lead and beat WWVA 25-12. Game three was the most hard- fought with the Knights rallying to try to extend the evening and take an easy win away from Dayton.

Underdogs in this encounter, the Knights pulled out some scrappy plays to pull alongside Dayton 11-11 and even move ahead 12-11 before giving up their lead. With much grace under pressure, the Bulldogs stayed ahead just a point or two for most of the rest of the game to shut out WWVA 25-23.

On Tuesday, Lambert went 21-21 serving, had 5 kills and 7 digs; Wooldridge was 16-18 serving and had 4 aces; Tate went 11-11 serving with 9 digs; Smith had 5 kills; Hall posted 3 kills, 11 assists and 7 digs; Bickelhaupt had 12 kills and 8 digs; and Philips had 5 digs.

Dayton faces just three more league opponents before the end of the season: Tri Cities Prep, DeSales and Liberty Christian, all of which they've beat earlier in the season.