WP Comes Up Short Against The Irish

WALLA WALLA-The WP Lady Cardinals were defeated at the hands of the Desales fighting Irish Tuesday night in Walla Walla. The loss puts them in fourth place in District Nine.

The first game got off to a heated start with the Irish blocking two back-to-back attacks from the Cardinals before a third flew out of bounds, giving the Cardinal the lead-off score.

A serving ace and a kill from WP's Krystal Harris would jump the Cardinals to a 4-0 lead.

Four kills from the Irish, and missed serves and attacks from the Cardinals, had the Cardinals up by one, 9-8.

Kills from Dionna Baker and Ronnie Hulce would help the Cardinals in their back and forth lead exchange, but eight kills from the Irish handed the Cardinals a game-one loss, 20-25. Two serving aces from Sarah Mascall and two from Hulce along with a kill helped the Cardinals jump to an 11-3 lead in game two. The Irish fought back at the net, sending three kills to the Cardinals, but Baker connected for an ace and a kill to help the Cardinals hold onto its lead, 16-12.

Four failed attacks from the Irish and two kills from Mascall put the Cards up 21-15, and the Irish took its first timeout.

The Cards had a failed attack and a missed serve before Mascall finished off the Irish with a kill giving WP a gametwo victory.

The Irish jumped to an early lead in game three with an opening kill followed by three serving aces. Missed attacks from the Irish and a serving ace from Hulce had the game tied up at 8. The Cardinals offense would only put down two more kills toward its 19-25 gamethree loss.

The do-or-die game four began with Desales jumping to an early lead, but Hulce fired up her swing and laid down four kills on the way to a 10-all tie.

After a WP timeout, the Cardinals continued to score with a kill and a solo block from Baker who also slammed down an ace.

The volleys were long and full of nail-biting digs and saves out of the net and WP took another timeout all tied up at 19.

Hulce came out swinging with a kill that chipped the floor, but the Irish came back with four straight kills of its own that clipped the birds' wings and sent them home with a game-four loss, 20-25.

Kayla Huxull led the Cardinals with 24 assists, 12 digs and 100 percent serving. Hulce had 16 kills and nine digs.

Harris had 100 percent serving and led the defense with 20 digs. Rhiannon Chapman got down and dirty for 14 digs and Amanda Cook scooped up 12 digs.

The Cardinals have its Homecoming game Thursday night at 6 p.m. against the Tri- City Prep Jaguars.