Regardless of the sport being played, a showdown between two of the four cities of Moscow, Pullman, Clarkston and Lewiston always has the potential to get interesting.
Thursday was no exception as the Pullman Greyhounds took down the Clarkston Bantams in a Washington Class 2A Greater Spokane League volleyball match with set scores of 25-12, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20.
“I think (Clarkston) adjusted better than we did, we just got up big in the first and second (sets),” Pullman coach Megan McNannay said. “But they did a good job adjusting.”
Strong start
Pullman (7-6, 2-1) had very few problems in the first two sets, sprinting out to a lead over visiting Clarkston (4-8, 1-2). The Bantams were within six points of the Greyhounds for most of the first set but once the score read 14-8 in favor of Pullman, the home team ended the frame with an 11-4 run to get a 1-0 advantage.
Clarkston was able to get closer in the second set, behind only 14-12, but got outscored 11-4 again the rest of the way to fall behind by two sets.
The last two sets were when the momentum started to shift.
“I felt like our goal was to just limit our errors,” Clarkston coach Marie Huffman said. “Because that’s been kind of our big thing the whole season. Hitting errors, or serve receive errors, so we made some adjustments to the lineup and that worked in our favor.”
Catching up
In Set 3, the Greyhounds again built a respectable advantage at 11-6, but the Bantams worked their way back and took a 14-13 lead which they didn’t give up for the rest of the set. It was the first lead the team had on Thursday since the opening point of the match.
Despite the momentum swing, Pullman didn’t trail by more than three points and had an opportunity to tie the set down 24-23. Clarkston scored the setpoint to force the fourth set and avoid an extra points situation.
“We just had to match (Pullman’s) strength up front,” Huffman said. “We had some good swings; it’s just consistently swinging and knowing where to place the ball. So that’s what we’re getting better at.”
Dramatic finish
The fourth and final set was just as dramatic as the third. Neither team was able to pull forward by more than two points and there were eight total ties in the frame. The last tie was at 14-14.
The Bantams were able to compete with the Greyhounds in the last two sets due to a better job at getting blockers in front of and receiving Pullman’s attack attempts. Clarkston was unable to block the kill by junior middle blocker/opposite hitter Ella Forster that put the Greyhounds up 15-14. The Bantams were unable to get the lead back and Pullman outscored Clarkston 10-6 to earn the set win and overall match victory.
“I think we need more energy, No. 1,” McNannay said. “We play a little uninspired sometimes, so we just need more energy. We didn’t have the student section we usually have — the football team is gone today so we didn’t have that student section to feed off of.”
Final stats
Senior outside hitter Sophie Armstrong led Pullman with a match-high 29 kills and added two aces. Senior setter Gabriella Oliver added 41 assists, sophomore middle blocker Jasmyne Washington had four blocks, senior libero Lily McNannay had 19 digs and sophomore outside hitter Jorja McGuire added two aces of her own.
For the Bantams, freshman outside hitter Roxie Rogers and junior outside hitter Ella Leavitt led the team with eight kills apiece. Leavitt added four aces and Rogers added two blocks. Junior setter Kendyl Barnea had 15 assists and senior libero Leah Copeland had 18 digs.
Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.
