Lady T-cats earn homecoming, first league volleyball win

The LaCrosse-Washtucna Lady Tigercats had a busy week, playing three full matches in a week and earning a win in the homecoming game on Oct. 10 against Kahlotus and the team’s first league win against Garfield-Palouse on Oct. 15. The Lady Tigercats played two matches against Garfield-Palouse on Oct. 9 and Oct. 15.

In the first match against Gar-Pal, the Lady Tigercats traveled to Palouse but returned back with a nonleague loss to the Lady Vikings. The Lady Vikings earned the win in three sets with scores of 25-12, 25-13 and 25-21.

Lady Tigercats’ head coach Sarah Mayer said the team had been looking forward to playing Gar-Pal and the two teams had a fun match together. The Lady Tigercats continued to struggle with serving and serve receive, and Mayer expressed the need to improve on putting more effort into the games before the Lady Tigercats matched up with the Gar-Pal team on Tuesday.

“We missed some critical serves and need to refocus on serving. This week we will work on moving to the ball, continue to work on serve receive and become more familiar with the new rotation that we are running now,” Mayer said. “I will be moving two girls around to strengthen our defense at the net. We will also be working on covering for tips; although the girls are doing a wonderful job at moving toward the block, we need to be ‘ready’ for the tips, so the focus will be on intentional covering with a purpose.”

Gail Harder stepped up to lead the team with five kills and nine digs. Lindsey Miller led the team in assists with seven, and earned one ace during the match.

“During our Gar-Pal match I think that both of our setters were the leaders for the night. Both, Nicole Harder and Lindsey Miller, worked hard to position the ball for an offensive attack. I think both of these girls are positive leaders on the court and work hard for their team,” said Mayer.

The Lady Tigercats moved on to face Kahlotus the following evening in the homecoming match of the week and secured a nonleague win in three sets: 25-16, 25-13, 25-12. As the Kahlotus team oftentimes combines with LaCrosse-Washtucna for sports, the homecoming match served as a fun game for both teams.

“(The) LW girls did a nice job adapting to new positions. They did a nice job serving and received the ball well Thursday evening. They need to work on locating and playing in their defensive base,” Mayer said. “We weren’t as prepared for tips as we needed to be. We will continue to work on covering as well as hitting. The girls need to work on hitting on top of the ball, as well as work on their approaches to master their timing.”

“All in all, it was a fun match and neat to share the experience with Kahlotus,” Mayer added.

Gail Harder continued to lead the team in kills, accumulating nine during the night’s match. Miller contributed four digs, while Nicole Harder put up 11 assists. Kadie Whinery had an extremely successful night from the serving line with 11 aces.

The Lady Tigercats faced Gar-Pal in a league match on Tuesday and the match also served as pink night in honor of breast cancer awareness month.

After losing the first two sets to the Lady Vikings, the LW team rallied back and took the win from Gar-Pal in five sets: 15-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-10.

“Tonight was an exciting win,” Mayer said Tuesday. “The girls remained focused and were able to win the last three sets! The communication improved throughout the match. I was very pleased with the girls’ defense, they were reading the block and getting into position. They really played as a team.”

Brooklynn Hostetler earned 10 kills on Tuesday night and Jessica Guske led the team with 18 digs. Gail Harder found success at the serving line with five kills and Miller put up 18 assists on the night. Whinery led the team at the net with two blocks.

The Lady Tigercats go on the road on Thursday to face Pomeroy with game time at 5 p.m.

(Katelin Davidson can be reached at [email protected])