Lady Cards Take the Tigers in Five Sets

WAITSBURG – It took a full five sets, but the Waitsburg Cardinals took down the Prescott Tigers in a home court non-league match on Tues., Oct. 25. The Cardinals won 22-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-18, and 15-9.

"Overall, we played well enough to get the win. Our team hitting percentage was .156 with 33 kills overall and 16 errors. Having our offensive stats spread pretty evenly among the girls is always a good sign. Even with Devon Harshman missing the girls were able to step up and make really good contributions," said Cardinal Coach Angie Potts.

Potts said the team's biggest weakness was passing on serve receive and staying focused. "We'll spend our next few practices before districts working on footwork, communication, and adjusting to servers to get our passing stats where they need to be for us to be successful.

Tayler Jones dished out three aces, 10 kills and five digs, while Taylor Hays made six kills and 12 digs. Kelsey Alleman had two aces and three digs, Chose Pearson had three kills, two aces, and four digs, Jade Alleman added seven kills and a block, Analisea Aray made six kills, Ariel Sandau served six aces and made 23 assists, and Timber Frohreich added three aces.

The Prescott Tigers played strong and put up a good fight throughout the match. However, the defeat ended their season, which showed a greatly improved record over last year.

For the Tigers, Jocelyn Granados served seven aces, Yoali Ortega recorded six aces, eight digs and a pair of kills, Isela Ayala served five aces and posted team bests with 10 digs and three kills. Maribel Mendoza finished with four serving aces, seven digs, and a pair of kills. Nayeli Flores and Briseida Ayala chipped in with two aces and two kills each.

The game was also senior night and a breast cancer fundraiser for the Cardinal players. "Even though we aren't done playing, I have to thank our seniors for everything they've done this season. Analisea Araya, Taylor Hays, Jade Alleman, and Timber Frohreich have been on the court a lot this year and have played important roles in our success," Potts said.

The Cardinals enter District competition as the No. 5 seed and will face LWK on Wed., Nov. 2 in Oakesdale at 6 p.m. in a loser-out contest. The winner will then face Oakesdale in a second loser-out match at 7:30 p.m.

The winner there will go on to play the winner between Colton, Pomeroy, and St. John on Sat., Nov. 5 in Colfax for seeding to State.

"At this point, we're two matches away from that goal but we have some tough competition ahead of us," Potts said.