Lady Broncos battle in district tournament

At the District Tournament on Nov. 1 the Lady Broncos got off to a difficult start losing their first match against the Reardan Indians in four sets.

“We should have beat them,” Head coach Cari Galbreath said.

The Broncos defeated the Indians in three sets at their Senior Night game on Oct. 28 before the tournament. Galbreath said the team seemed to be in a fog and offensively they did not play a solid game.

As the match progressed Bronco play improved. The fourth set was extremely close, Galbreath said, and the Broncos should have won it.

The ladies would then take on the Tekoa-Rosalia Spartans in their second match of the tournament.

The Broncos lost the first set against the Spartans 23-25. Galbreath attributed the shaky start to frustration from the Reardan match.

The remaining sets the Broncos would take control of the match, winning 25-14, 25-20 and 25-20.

Mallory Kessler would rack up 14 kills during the match for the Bronco offense. Defensively Jana Mattox recorded 16 digs against the Spartans.

They would then face-off against Wilbur-Creston for the fifth place position in a match that the Broncos would take in three, 25-22, 25-16 and 25-22.

During the match Tessa Jantz recorded 11 kills, leading the Bronco offense. On defense, Mattox would secure 11 digs while Kessler would provide four blocks to keep the Broncos on top.

This knocked the Wildcats into the sixth place position and the Broncos avoided a loser out game for the wildcard slot into the Regional Tournament.

Wilbur-Creston faced Desales in Ritzville on Nov. 4 and defeated them in three sets and secured the wildcard slot to regionals.

Jenna Bennett stood out the most to Galbreath from the tournament.

“She fought pretty hard for her team,” she said.

During the tournament Bennett would have 49 assists in the three matches, 23 of them during the Wilbur-Creston match.

This Saturday the Broncos will face the Colfax Bulldogs at 10 a.m. at Cheney High School for the Regional Tournament.

Galbreath said it will be a tough match and the team will need to bring it’s A-game in order to take the match.

Galbreath hoped the team learned from their experience at the District Tournament.

“Hopefully the girls realize you can’t just pick and choose when you’re going to play hard,” Galbreath said.

She said the team began playing more to their ability as the day went on.

The Broncos will need to claim a place in the top four in order to secure a position in the State Tournament. To do this they will need to win at least two matches during the tournament.