Outlaws beat La Pine on volleyball senior night

The Lady Outlaws beat the LaPine Hawks in four sets at home on senior night on Tuesday, October 15, with scores of 25-15 23-25, 25-14, and 25-12.

Prior to Tuesday’s contest the Lady Outlaws honored their six senior players, Jordyn Monaghan, Holly Davis, Sophie Rush, Brooklyn Cooper, Kisten Elbek,  and Kathryn Scholl. 

Coach Josh Kreunen made note of each of his senior players.

“Jordyn is a great on-the-floor leader, who leads with grit and passion,” said Kreunen. “Her volleyball IQ and drive make her one of the top libero in the conference. 

“Holly is a quiet, determined leader, said Kreunen. “She leads by example and demands the best from herself and teammates. She has a high floor? Where even on an off day, she is an extremely consistent setter, server, and defender.”

“Sophie is a very passionate team player. She always puts her teammates ahead of her when it comes to making sure her teammates are in a good head space and playing their best,” stated Kreunen. “Sophie is always the first to offer to help out and work with the younger JV players whenever possible.

“Brooklyn is a very gritty, determined player, and a caring leader,” Kreunen noted. “She is always looking for ways to improve her skills mentally and physically and has made some of the biggest strides on the team in those improvements.”

“Kisten is also a gritty player willing to play wherever to contribute to the team,” said Kreunen. “The wrestler mentality comes out a lot on the court where Kisten just grinds it out.

“Kathryn is a quiet, driven, passionate volleyball player and person,” said Kreunen. “She’s a true team player, and always willing to player whatever position is best for the team. Kat is a solid all around player who is top three on the team in almost all categories, including serving, passing, and blocking, as well as hitting.”

After the seniors were honored the match began, and all six seniors took the floor, played throughout the first set, and all contributed in the win. Brooklyn Cooper’s kill tied the set at 3-3 and then she stepped back to the service line and took the Outlaws to an 8-3 advantage. Late in the set Monaghan served five in a row, with two kills from Haven Heuberger in the run that pushed the Outlaws to a 24-15 lead. A Hawk error on the following serve gave the Outlaws the win. Scholl led the offense with five big kills.

Sisters had a rough start in the second set, but a kill from Scholl narrowed the gap to 4-5. Paityn Cotner had a four run serving stretch, that included an ace and two great kills from Heuberger that took the Outlaws to a 9-5 lead. Audrey Sybesma had a couple big kills, the last that took the Outlaws to a 12-12 tie. LaPine kept battling and the Outlaws found themselves down 15-19. Cotner stepped back to the service line and served seven in a row to put the Outlaws on top 22-19. Sadly, Sisters couldn’t hold on, committed unforced errors, and lost by two.

“We committed 15 unforced errors in that second set,” said Kreunen.

Sisters refocused and came back in the third. Emma Long had a nice service run at the start of the set to give the Outlaws a 5-4 lead. Later, a kill from Cotner, followed by a crushing kill from Scholl and then a big block from Scholl put the Outlaws on top 9-5. Alli Fogarty had a three point service run that included two aces which pushed Sisters to a 13-6 advantage. Late in the match Heuberger put down two nice kills and Scholl put down the final kill to seal the win.

In the fourth and final set, the Outlaws again started off strong at the service line. Davis served them to 6-0 lead, with Sybesma putting down two big kills in the run. Fogarty also had a nice six point service run, that included two kills from Cotner. Down the stretch the Outlaws closed out the match with nine straight kills from four different players, including Heuberger,  Sybesma, Cotner, and Brooke Lindsay.

Coach Josh Kreunen made a line-up adjustment for this match and moved Scholl to middle and Cotner to outside hitter. Scholl did an incredible job at middle and had several crushing kills and Cotner two big service runs in the match.

Kreunen said, “Both those girls played very well and found their groove.”

Scholl led the squad with 15 kills, several of which were just crushed to the floor. Heuberger posted 12 kills and Sybesma and Cotner both had seven kills. Emma Long did a great job passing and finished the night with 11 digs. Davis also had 11 digs, and Monaghan was right behind with 10 digs. Davis dished out 40 assists. Monaghan and Cotner both had three aces in the match.

Two days later the Lady Outlaws easily handled the Falcons in three straight sets on the road at Elmira with scores of 25-14, 25-10, and 25-16.

In the first set the Outlaws had big serving runs from both Emma Long and Fogarty, and kills from several different players, including Scholl, Sybesma, Heuberger, Cotner, and Brooklyn Cooper which helped seal the win.

In the middle of the second set Fogarty served up five consecutive aces, and towards the end Scholl served up two aces, Gibney had two nice kills, and the set ended with a kill from Kisten Elbek and an ace from Emma Long.

Sisters struggled a bit early in the third set and gave up a few points, but came back and pulled off the three-set win. Highlights included two big kills and a block from Heuberger, and two aces from Ali Gibney.

Kreunen said, “We won tonight in business-like fashion. A lot of players contributed to the with with eight different players registering at least one kill. Heuberger and Scholl led the way with six kills each and Fogarty dominated at the service line again with multiple long-run serving streaks, including five straight aces in the second set. Defensively, Ali (Gibney) and Holly (Davis) each had seven digs to lead the team.”

Davis also dished out 23 assists in the match. Monaghan chipped in with four digs and Gibney contributed four kills.

League playoffs begin on Saturday, October 26, at Pleasant Hill. The Outlaws will play Creswell at 11 a.m. and the winner of that match will play Pleasant Hill at 1 p.m.