Lady Pirates hand Maidens their first loss

RONAN — The latest chapter of what has become one of Lake County’s best single-sport rivalries lived up to the hype and had the Ronan Events Center rocking Thursday night.

The Lady Pirates volleyball team came to play and handed the Maidens their first loss of the season in a five-set, back-and-forth thriller that ended 23-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-25, 15-11 in the visitors’ favor.

Each of the first three sets could have gone either way. Ronan battled back from a 17-20 deficit to take the first, then Polson (3-1) took the second, capped by a Lucy Violett block and an ace winner from Camilla Foresti. It was the first set the Maidens (3-1) lost in a full match all season.

Polson’s service game gave them the edge throughout the night. Trailing 6-4, service specialist Kamdyn Burrough reeled off six straight points for the Lady Pirates, including four consecutive aces.

Polson finished with 16 aces for the match, including seven from Burrough and four from Foresti, while Ronan managed six aces.

“We couldn’t serve receive to save our lives,” Ronan head coach Lacey Phelan said after the match.

“Polson has good servers,” Phelan said. “I’ll give them that. … They had some side-spin serves that we just weren’t ready for. We just need to practice harder.”

The two teams played four exciting matches last season. They split the regular season meetings, then Polson won a winner-to-state playoff game at home. They met a final time at the state tournament, Ronan’s first trip in two nearly decades, and the Maidens won in four sets in a loser-out match.

After slipping to a 2-1 deficit Thursday, Ronan bounced back with authority and took the fourth set behind a five-point run with Rylie Lindquist serving that put them up 23-14. They finished off the set with a kill from Jace Frost to win 25-15.

The Lady Pirates opened the fifth set on a 7-1 run, with Avery Starr serving and Foresti scoring three straight points with a dink and two kills.

Foresti finished with 10 kills to lead Polson, while senior Olivia Clairmont notched 21 kills for Ronan.

Polson was up 11-4 when Ronan put together another run and eventually closed the gap to 14-11 before the game ended when officials ruled an illegal hit by a Ronan player.

Leina Ulutoa recorded 24 assists for Ronan, while Starr led Polson with 18.

Foresti and Liz Tolley each had 33 digs and for Polson. Lindquist led Ronan with 25 digs.

Polson head coach Lizzy Cox was out with an illness and unable to attend the game, though she watched a live stream online. Assistant coach Bonnie Klein the Lady Pirates to the victory.

“They pulled it all together,” Klein said after the match. “This is the best I’ve seen them play. Everybody just did their part. They implemented new things that we haven’t done before, and it really paid off for us. I’m super proud of every single one of them.”

The two teams are scheduled to meet again Oct. 9 at the new Linderman School gymnasium.

Polson def. Ronan 23-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-25, 15-11

KILLS – P33 (Camila Foresti 10, Clara Todd 7, Liz Tolley 7, Mckenna Hanson 7), R34 (Olivia Clairmont 21 LaReina Cordova 6, Jase Frost 3, Lindquist 2, L.Ulutoa, Fischer). ACES – P16 (Kamdyn Burrough 7, Foresti 4), R6 (LaReina Cordova 2, Julianna Vizzerra 2, Vizzerra, Haylie Webster). ASSISTS – P30 (Avery Starr 18, Grace Simonich 8), R32 (Leina Ulutoa 24, Hannah Rowe 6, Kylie Fetui 2). BLOCKS – P7 (Liz Tolley 4, C.Todd 2), R9 (O.Clairmont 3bs3ba, L.Ulutoa 4ba, Frost 2ba, Lindquist 1ba, Fetui 1ba). DIGS – P144 (Foresti 33, Tolley 33, Hanson 25), R89 (Rylie Lindquist 25, L.Ulutoa 16, L.Cordova 14, Margaret Cordova 12, Rowe 7, Fetui 6, Kenslie Fischer 4, Claire Crist 3, H.Webster, Vizzerra).