Broncos, Tigers unbeaten volleyball invitational

RITZVILLE – The Odessa Tigers and Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos both left the Ritzville Invitational Volleyball tournament on Saturday, Sept. 11, unbeaten.

That means they did not play each other, setting up an interesting non-league match in October.

On the way to their unbeaten day, Class 1B Odessa and Class 2B Lind-Ritzville never lost a set while playing Rogers (Spokane), Royal City and Columbia (Burbank).

The other team participating was St. Georges’s (Spokane).

In their final set of the day, Odessa faced off against the Columbia (Burbank) Coyotes.

The Tigers won the first game 25-10 on the strong hitting from the left side of Emily Scrupps, a 6-foot senior.

The Tigers fell behind in the second game, but rallied after a timeout and inspiring talk from Odessa Head Coach Suzie Deife.

The Tigers won the second game 25-17, capping an unbeaten day.

“We played hard, played tough” Deife said. “Our service was spot on.” She went on to say “the game versus Royal was great. Very competitive.”

The Broncos also played their last set of the day against the Coyotes.

The Broncos won the first set 25-5 on the effective serving of sophomore Megan Melcher, who served several aces during her extended turn behind the service line.

The Broncos won the second game 25-13 with some timely hitting from the middle by 6-foot senior Dakota Killian.

“We got good play. It worked well as a system, and we kept our focus,” Broncos Coach Cari Galbreath said, indicating she has an eye toward the October matchup with Odessa.

Odessa and Lind-Ritzville are scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, in Ritzville.