Lady Broncos focus on improvement in upcoming league games

The Lady Broncos had a busy week with a Thursday match against Columbia Burbank and four games at the Spikefest Tournament on Saturday.

Thursday’s match was against the Lady Coyotes. Despite having their full varsity team in play the Lady Broncos were unable to stop Columbia Burbank, ending the match with set scores of 11-25, 12-25 and 8-25.

Tessa Jantz led the game in kills with five during the match, followed closely by Madison Harder with four kills.

Emma Aldrich lead the team in digs with three and Harder added two digs for the Lady Broncos.

While the team only had two kills, the Lady Broncos served over 90 percent in the match

Head Coach Cari Galbreath stated the team, “didn’t play great defense and therefore were always caught off-guard.”

Unforced errors were the main cause of their defeat, she said.

Additionally the team stopped attempting to hit offensively, which did not add to their score.

The team is also still working to get their communication fluent while on the court.

There was some fluidity with the positions during this game with Peyton Curtis still posted as the setter and adding Kierstin Witt into the libero position during the third set.

In Saturday’s Tournament in Rosalia, the Lady Broncos faced four teams. In the first match of the day, the Lady Broncos played Liberty where they fell 21-25 and 20-25.

In this game the team worked cohesively on offense and were able to keep the score close. Harder and Jantz led in kills with five and four respectively. Jantz also led in digs with four.

In the second match versus Kootenai the Lady Broncos kept the score close, but ultimately the LRS team lost 20-25 and 20-25.

Harder and Jantz both had four kills followed by Rachel Schell with three. Overall, the team moved to the ball well, but their serving lacked in this game with an average percentage of 83.3.

The third game ended in a tie versus Tekoa-Rosalia with set scores of 15-25 and 27-25. This game offered a lot defensively for the Lady Broncos with multiple digs from five of the seven players.

Offensively, Jantz secured six kills.

While the serving percentage was only 78.6, it was accompanied by five aces.

The final game was a close win for the Lady Broncos over Coeur d’Alene with set scores of 25-23 and 25-23. The team had a total of seven kills. Tessa O’Brien and Harder led defensively with five digs each. Jantz and Harder kept up their hitting throughout the day with six and five kills each.

This tournament allowed the varsity team to gain experience playing together as a unit.

Galbreath said, “After Saturday the team is starting to get more in a groove and understand different responsibilities.”

The day held some good rallies and exciting plays, which helped to get the team into the level of intensity needed to win their matches.

The team has no break this week with their first league game versus St. George’s on Tuesday followed by another match on Thursday in Rosalia.

The community can also support the Lady Broncos at home on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 12:30 p.m. where they have a match against Tri-Cities Prep at the Gilson Gymnasium.