The Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies volleyball squad earned a hard-fought win in the first set, but could not replicate that the rest of the night as they fell in four sets to the Kittson County Central Bearcats (20-25, 25-18, 25-9, 25-12). “We are much better than this, we can play much better than this, so we can’t get down on each other and we gotta come back from this,” explained Coach Strobel. “We will get the rest of the season going and stay strong.”
First Set
The first set was a back-and-forth battle from the first point until the 45th point of the set. The teams were tied 12 times (2,3,5,6,11,12,13,14,15,16,19 and 20) with neither team gaining a lead of more than three points until the end of the set when the Ponies ended the set with a 6-0 run to win 25-20. Lily Bayne and Gracie Anderson led the way for W-A-O all night, and they each had three kills in the first set on the way to a 1-0 lead. “They were in a groove for us, but we need to get more than just two girls to keep our game going,” said Coach Ashley Stroble. “When they are hitting, we are playing well, but they get tired because they play all around in every set.”
Second Set
Kittson County Central started the second set strong with a 3-0 lead and a 5-2 lead early on. The Ponies worked to get back into the set getting it to a one point deficit at 6-7, but that is the closest they would get the rest of the way. W-A-O started to get away from getting deflections and blocks up at the net and the Bearcats took advantage of it with an accurate barrage of kills from a host of players, led by Cheyenne Scalese and Jenna Davis. “We let our blocking go a little bit and that hurt us,” said Coach Ashley Stroble. “We need to be up there all the time because we let them go and they will come right at us.” With a 15-11 lead the Bearcats worked into a 5-0 run to take a nine point lead. The Ponies did not get any closer than seven, losing the set 25-18.
Third Set
The third set was all Kittson County Central. They jumped out to an 8-3 lead with Scalese catching fire with some help from Megan Larson on the outside. After W-A-O got a couple of points to cut the deficit at 9-13, they did not manage another point the rest of the set. KCC ended the set with a 12-0 run that was sustained through two timeouts in an attempt to slow the momentum. Berlyn Strege served eleven straight points for the Bearcats that included three aces, one of which ended the set at a score of 25-9. “We weren’t passing the best and we were passing to their front row,” explained Coach Stroble. “If we do that, they don’t take it in two or three hits, they go first hit.”
Fourth Set
In the fourth set, KCC picked up right where they left off, this time with Scalese doing the serving up three aces on the way to a 9-2 lead. The Bearcats continued to pressure the Ponies the defense from all areas of the court. With Strege serving again, Scalese continued to dominate up front with kill after kill and Larson and Elsa Steen added a few more kills to push a 9-4 lead to 16-4. The Ponies tried to make a push at the lead to extend the match to five sets but could not get closer than 10 points and lost the final set 25-12. “Sixteen [aces] is ugly and should never happen at this level and some of them were just give ups,” added Coach Stroble. “That is something we will work on this week.”
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo falls to 1-4 this season. They will try to get back on the winning track on Thursday when they host Climax/Fisher.
Kittson County Central improves to 6-2 this year. They will travel to Warroad on Thursday.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Kittson County Central | 20 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | 25 | 18 | 9 | 12 |
For Kittson County Central
Kills – Cheyenne Scalese- 22, Megan Larson- 10, Jenna Davis- 8, Kira Whitlock- 5,
Assists – Kira Whitlock- 26, Morgan Turn- 16
Digs – ??
Blocks – Kira Whitlock- 4, Morgan Turn- 2
Aces – Morgan Turn, Cheyenne Scalese- 4, Berlyn Strege- 3, Jenna Davis- 2
For Warren-Alvarado-Oslo
Kills – Lily Bayne- 13, Gracie Anderson- 8
Assists – Elise Oberg- 17
Digs – Lily Bayne- 27, Gracie Anderson- 10
Blocks – Elise Oberg, Paige Jadeke, Kylie Nelson- 1 each
Aces – Tatiana Wright- 3, Elise Oberg- 1
