Outlaws split matches in volleyball battles

The Lady Outlaws beat the Harrisburg Eagles at home on Monday, October 7, in three straight sets with scores of 25-19, 25-11, and 26-24. Three days later they fell in five sets on the road at Creswell with scores of 22-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-20, and 13-15.

In Monday’s home match against Harrisburg the first set was tied up six times, the last at 17-17. Sisters got big kills from Audrey Sybesma, Kathryn Scholl, and Haven Heuberger that helped the Outlaws pull away and secure the win.

Sisters was down early in the second set, but then Emma Long went back to the service line and served eight in a row. Sybesma and Paityn Cotner had kills in that run, and, in addition, Long served up an ace to bring the Outlaws to an 11-7 advantage. A bit later in the match Jordyn Monaghan had a big run of 11 serves, which included four aces, and pushed the Outlaws to a 24-11 advantage. Sybesma put down a kill for the final point and the win.

In the third and final set, after the set was tied at 5-5, the Outlaws took the lead, 24-20. A few Outlaws’ errors allowed the Eagles to tie it up 24-24. Heuberger had a nice kill and Holly Davis served an ace for the win.

Sybesma led the squad with 12 kills, Heuberger followed with six, Ali Gibney tallied five and Scholl and Cotner added three kills each. 

Monaghan led the way at the service line, and had an 11-point run in the second set that included three aces, and finished the night with six aces. She also had eight digs in the match.

Long led the team with 16 digs on the night, Davis had 13, and Alli Fogarty tallied nine.  Sybesma and Cotner chipped in with four digs each, and Sybesma and Gibney tallied two big blocks each.

Coach Josh Kreunen said, “Everybody on the team contributed in the win. Audrey (Sybesma) was our biggest offensive contributor and helped close out sets one and two with some big swings.”

It was a five-set marathon at Creswell on Thursday where the Lady Outlaws unfortunately committed numerous unforced errors and in the end came up short. 

Kreunen said, “We need to cut down on our errors. We gave them more than half of their points.”

In the first set the Outlaws quickly went down 0-4, but battled back due in part to an ace from Gibney and a couple of kills from Scholl that tied it up 5-5. The game continued back-and-forth, and was tied up six more times to finally take it to a 17-17 contest. Sadly, the Outlaws couldn’t finish and lost by three.

Sisters started out better in the second set and took a 7-2 lead, but again the Bulldogs battled back to knot it up 7-7. Kills from Sybesma and Gibney, and a block from Heuberger regained the lead for the Outlaws at 11-8. The Bulldogs kept at it and once again knotted the scored at 15-15. After the game went to a 22-22 tie, the Outlaws once again lost the battle by three.

After a 1-1, and 3-3 tie in the third set, the Outlaws took the lead, and held on until the end for the win. Gibney had three big blocks to highlight the set.

The Bulldogs seemed to fall apart in the fourth set and the Outlaws took advantage and posted the win. Heuberger had some big kills and both Monaghan and Long had some key digs in long rallies to keep the ball in play.

Sisters trailed the entire fifth set and the Bulldogs recorded the win.

Kreunen said, “It was a great battle and fun match tonight. Haven had a great offensive performance and Alli once again led the way on serving.”

In the five-set match, Heuberger finished the night with 17 kills and a block, and Scholl tallied 15 kills and 14 digs. Sybesma recorded eight kills, and Gibney had six kills, five blocks, and three aces.

Monaghan led the defense with 13 digs, and Long was right behind her with 12. Davis finished with 47 assists and 10 digs, followed by Fogarty who recorded eight digs, and led the team with four aces.

Sisters was to play at home against La Pine on Tuesday, October 15. On Thursday, they will travel to Elmira.

They wrap up their week with the Bend Clearwater Classic on Saturday, October 19.