Vball: Lady Bulldogs defeat Plains

by Brandon Hansen & Sports Editor
| October 6, 2011 8:30 AM

Jenn Larsson leads team with 15 kills in 3-1 victory over

Trotters

ST. IGNATIUS - Mission knocked off an old district rival last Tuesday, Sept. 27, with a 3-1 win over the Plains Trotters behind 15 kills by Jenn Larsson.

The Lady Bulldogs (3-6) switched the game from Friday to Tuesday, which gave the girls a weekend to rest up before their schedule becomes jam-packed with matches.

"It was nice to have the weekend off," Mission head coach Kendal Anderson said. "A few of the girls are sick and needed a rest."

They didn't look sick against the Trotters, winning the first two games in close fashion 26-24 and 25-23. While Plains took the third game 25-11, the Lady Bulldogs bounced back for the 25-19 victory.

"Our passing was really good against Plains and our front row wasn't putting it away in the third game," Anderson said. "The offense came out swinging in the fourth and we got the ball rolling again."

Loren Erickson added 16 assists and was solid on defense with 18 digs. Sarah Bowers also had 16 assists. The Lady Bulldogs' defense was very impressive in the match as they had 90 digs to Plains' 26. They also had 36 assists in the game to the Trotters' 15.

Last Thursday, Florence stayed undefeated at 8-0 with a 3-0 victory over the Lady Bulldogs and looked strong at the net with 10 blocks as a team.

"Florence is a very good, polished and well-coached team," Anderson said. "They play club ball together year-round and have been doing so for the last couple of years."

Anderson said the team came out a little tentative against Florence, something that the Lady Bulldogs don't normally do.

"Normally when we play a really tough competitor the girls are pumped up and play some of the best ball I've seen," Anderson said. "This was a different story. There were hardly any attack attempts and the girls looked scared out there."

Florence won the three games by scores of 25-12, 25-10, 25-19.

Now the Lady Bulldogs will have three games in back-to-back weeks, a kind of a sprint to the end of the season.

"We've got things to work on and we're going to continue to work hard and keep a positive attitude for the second half of the season," Anderson said.