Bulldogs Win Battle of the Valley

WAITSBURG - The Dayton Bulldogs and the WP Cardinals battled it out on Waitsburg's court Thurs­day evening with the Dogs taking a win in three straight sets.

Both teams were recover­ing from losses on the 24th, the Bulldogs losing two five set games to Asotin and the Cardinals losing to Tri Cit­ies Prep. "It was good to win in three after two league losses in five games, by two points!" said Bulldog coach Shannon Turner.

WP's freshman-dominat­ed team struggled against the added challenge of players benched due to illness and academic ineligibility. They rallied well initially, with a score of 12-10, in Dayton's favor midway through the first game before losing ground and dropping that game 25-11.

Stellar serving on the part of the Bulldogs, with only three missed serves the entire game, helped pave their way to victory. Senior Courtney Mings served a perfect 16/16 followed by sister, Sophomore Madison Mings, who served a 12/12. Junior Sarah Phillips trailed close behind with a 10/10. "We cut down on missed serves this game, so that was good," said Coach Turner.

The Lady Cards per­formed well in returning serves, but Bulldogs Court­ney Mings and Freshman Josilyn Fullerton found holes in the defense, spiking eight and six kills, respec­tively. Overzealous out-of- bounds spikes failed to help the Cards even the score, and the second game ended with a score of 25-13, in the Bulldogs favor.

The Cards battled hard in game three, keeping the score a tight 15-15 before the Bulldogs once again took control and won with a score of 25-16. "We had a chance to mix things up a bit and work on two differ­ent defenses," said Bulldog Coach Turner.

Cardinal Coach Angie Potts was satisfied with play, overall. "We've been work­ing on playing as a team and how important it is for everyone to step up and play hard," she said. "Against Dayton, I thought they did a much better job of that than they did against Tri City Prep," said Potts.

Stat leaders for the Cardinals were: Paige Wood with 7 kills and 12 digs, Jaidyn Brown with 3 kills and Enedina Fuentes with 8 digs and 4 aces.

Stats for the Bulldogs:

Courtney Mings - 16/16 Serv­ing with 12 Pts, 8 Kills, 11 Digs

Sarah Phillips - 10/10 Servingwith 6 Pts, 4 Digs

Chelsea Wooldridge - 18/19Serving with 13 Pts, 22 Assists

Lexi Ramirez - 2/3 Serving,4 Digs

Madison Mings - 12/12 Servingwith 9 Pts, 5 Kills, 8 Digs, 2 Blocks

Bryeana Myrick - 2 Kills, 2Blocks, 1 Dig

Josilyn Fullerton - 7/8 Servingwith 3 Pts, 6 Kills, 1 Block, 4 Digs

Jenna Phillips - 4 Kills, 5 Digs

Keelin Hovrud - 1 Block, 1 Dig

Blue Mountain League