Outlaws launch pre-season play

The Lady Outlaws fell in four sets to Crook County (CC) on Tuesday, August 28, in their pre-season opener, but bounced back two days later with a straight-set win at home over Marist.

On Tuesday, the first-home-game jitters got the best of the Outlaws, and they lost to the visiting Cowgirls with scores of 21-25, 27-25, 17-25, and 23-25.

The first two games were very back-and-forth with both teams committing unforced errors, and having a difficult time getting into a rhythm.

Sisters never found their groove in the third set, committed an excessive amount of unforced errors, and only put down two kills. In the final game, the Outlaws came out strong and took a 14-11 lead. They were able to maintain the lead and found themselves ahead 23-21 before Crook County served four straight points to close out the match.

Sisters finished with 23 kills on the night, eight from Sam Silva, and seven from Kendra Sitz.

"I think the girls feel the pressure to repeat the success of last year, despite losing five seniors," said Coach Rory Rush. "We opened up against a tough CC team that finished fourth last year at state. We found ourselves making too many unforced errors, and never got into a rhythm."

Two days later, the Outlaws turned it around and easily swept Marist with scores of 25-20, 25-14, and 25-9.

Game one started a bit slow for Sisters, while Marist came out with good blocks and hits. The Outlaws had a strong finish and tallied the win. The team calmed down in the second game, made solid passes, and had two serving runs of five points by Ellie Rush and Sydney Head to close out the game.

Sisters dominated play from the get-go in the third set. Rush started the game with seven straight serving points. Head had a six-point serving run, as did Addy Myhre.

The Outlaws posted 10 kills in each of the three sets for a total of 30. Sophie Silva led the team with 11, Greta Davis recorded six, and Kendra Sitz added five. Sisters also posted 11 serving aces.

"After a tough loss on Tuesday, it was good for the girls to come out and play strong tonight," said Rush."

Sisters was to open league play at Newport on Tuesday, September 4. They will play at home against Cascade on Thursday.