Lady Broncos focus on consistency in games

The Lady Broncos have begun regular play for their fall season, facing off against several opponents at the Odessa Jamboree and the annual Ritzville Invite as well as hosting the Warden Cougars in their first league match of the season.

The team shows great potential and when they play well the ladies have a dominant presence on the court.

There are times though the Broncos fail to respect their opponent and allow the opposing team a chance to get back in the game if not take it away which nearly happened during the Warden match.

“We had a hard time closing the deal,” Coach Cari Galbreath said about the Broncos game against Warden on Sept. 11.

She said the team has a hard time sustaining a high level of play against opponents who are not necessarily as capable.

In the Warden match the lady Broncos were in complete control for the first and second set, beating the Cougars 25-14 and 25-19.

The third set was a different story. The Cougars took over the match easily defeating the Broncos 25-16. It was almost a similar story with the fourth set.

The Broncos were able to rally and close the gap but still fell to Warden 25-22.

After a close fifth set the Lady Broncos were able to earn the win, finishing off the Cougars 15-11.

Jenna Bennett led the Broncos in serving scoring 10 aces in the match. Bennet also led the Lady Broncos in assists with 15 sets.

Jana Mattox led the Bronco defense with 14 digs during the match and on offense Tessa Jantz led with 12 kills.

During the Bronco Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 13, the ladies had a difficult time getting started, losing two sets against the Odessa-Harrington Titans in their first match of the day, 20-25 and 23-25.

The rest of the matches were a display of Bronco strength, the ladies crushed Cusick in both sets, winning 25-7 and 25-13.

They would continue their performance against Northport as well, defeating them 25-17 in the first set and 25-8 in the second.

During the Northport match Sara Aldrich led the Broncos in serves, scoring six aces. Mattox would again be the base of the Bronco defense with three digs and Mallory Kessler led the offense with five kills.

Galbreath said the consistency comes with maturity and that the team needs to work on not letting their opponents take over the game.

She also said that communication might have been a factor in some of the inconsistent performances. Good communication helps keep the energy of the team up she said, which in turn, makes everyone perform better.

In preparation for the Columbia-Burbank game on Thursday, Sept. 18, Galbreath had the team focus on their offense more, getting hitters and setters more repetitions to help them take advantage of the Broncos strengths.

The main goal is to keep the team from getting complacent when having such strong games against opponents.

The long-term goal for the team is to keep the level of play at the highest point possible and in turn be able play more consistently against all opponents.