News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Outlaws launch pre-season play

Rongi Yost, Correspondent | Last updated Sep 04, 2018 12:0pm0
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Madison Anderson with kill against Crook County.

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.

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Outlaws faced tough competition at tourney

The Lady Outlaws finished fifth out of the 12 teams that attended the Mt. View Tournament held on Friday, August 31.

Sisters opened pool play a bit slow against South Albany, but finished well and took the first set 25-20. The Outlaws hung onto the momentum as they started the second set, quickly went up 6-0, held the lead, and sailed to a 25-13 finish. The lead changed several times in the third set, both teams battled for every point, and unfortunately the Outlaws came up short in a close game, which ended in a 23-25 loss. Sisters posted 19 kills in the match, with Sophie Silva leading the squad with seven kills.

The Outlaws fell short by one point, 26-27, in their next match against a tough Mt. View team. Mt. View took the momentum with them into the second set, the Outlaws struggled with their passes, and lost the set 17-25. Sisters settled down and came out swinging in the third set, went up 5-0, didn't look back, and crushed the Cougars 25-14. Sisters had 33 kills in the match, again led by Silva, who recorded nine.

Sisters wrapped up pool play and made it to the Gold Division seeded sixth. They faced a very good Silverton squad, struggled to find a rhythm in their passing game, and lost in two close sets, 24-26, and 19-25. Silva had eight kills in the match, and Kendra Sitz added six.

After their loss to Silverton, the Outlaws wanted to finish with a win in their final match of the tournament against Pendleton. They regrouped, refocused, came ready to play, and won both sets, 25-13, 25-15. Sisters posted 21 team kills, led by Greta Davis who tallied seven and Silva, who added five.

The Outlaws finished the day with 28 serving aces and 94 kills as a team.

Coach Rory Rush said, "The girls played well today. This tournament was about playing tough competition, and learning and finding chemistry. It was a great opportunity for us to work out some kinks as we get ready to head into league play. Every practice, every match, we continue to improve."

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