Lady Outlaws take down fierce rival

The Lady Outlaws volleyball team recorded one of the most satisfying wins in the program's history last week, taking down their fiercest rival in a three-way match with Crook County and Madras on Tuesday, September 11. The Outlaws took down six-time consecutive state champion, Crook County.

Sisters defeated the Cowgirls in a five game marathon with scores of 22-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-20 and 15-10.

The Outlaws lost by three in a tight first set but bounced right back to win the second set with Shannon Fouts serving up four straight points to get Sisters started. Sisters came out a bit flat in the third set and according to Coach Miki McFadden had some mental lapses which cost them the set.

The Outlaws were focused and determined in the fourth set. Fouts was on top of it at the service line once again and served four straight points to put the Outlaws on top at 13-12. Shannon also served the last two points to close it out. Sisters played an errorless fifth and final set to secure the win.

The Outlaws hit the floor in celebration and enjoyed the sweet victory.

Sisters' defense was able to hold their own against Crook County's top two players, McKayla Lindberg (Player of the Year for the past two years) and Hannah Troutman, one of the Cowgirls big kill leaders.

McFadden told The Nugget that the Outlaws had a great night from the service line.

"We executed with tough serves," said McFadden. "We served to spots and to tough positions and took them out of their offense.

"We were all excited with the win," said McFadden. "The seniors were especially ecstatic. They had never won a match against them before and so emotions and excitement was high. It really was a big accomplishment."

Megan Minke led the Outlaws with 16 kills and two blocks.

"Megan was our go-to player at the net tonight," said McFadden. "She hit smart, tipped smart and mixed up her shots."

Nila Luken had nine kills and four blocks and Allie Spear tallied nine kills, two aces and 13 digs. Libero Savannah Spear recorded 20 digs and Shelbi Thompson added 10.

Fouts finished the match with 42 assists.

In the first match of the evening the Outlaws defeated Madras in three straight sets with scores of 25-14, 25-15, 25-19.

Two days later, the Outlaws suffered a heartbreaker when they lost 20-25, 25-10, 25-9, 18-25, 10-15 to 5A Summit. Sisters lost the first came back with big wins in the second and third set.

Sisters was on top 12-9 in the fourth set when the officials called for a replay on a point. The officials took some time in discussion and settling out the issue.

"The delay threw off our concentration," stated McFadden. "We lost our focus. This was the 13th hard game we'd played in two days and the girls were just physically and mentally tired. We started making errors we hadn't in previous games and they (Summit) started digging better and bringing balls up that had gone down in the second and third set. We just lost our edge and it was a struggle."

The Outlaws lost the fourth and fifth sets and Summit earned the win.

Minke and Standley each tallied 11 kills in the match. Allie Spear finished with nine kills and Fouts recorded 40 assists and six aces.

Sisters will face Sweet Home at home in Sisters on Thursday, September 20. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m.