Royal comes from behind to win in five

It was a night of mixed emotions for the Royal volleyball team.

What started out as jubilation, soon turned to frustration, followed by the sweet song of victory. Columbia-Burbank took the first games from the Knights, but it was Royal, who rallied in the next three games to pull off a 3-2 (17-25, 23-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-4) win.

It also gave the visiting Coyotes their second loss in the SCAC, two more than Columbia-Burbank had during the last two seasons.

"It means a whole lot because they have been the dominant team in this league for so long," said Royal head coach Paul Olsufka. "To notch another loss for them is awesome, I think."

Royal improved to 3-1 in the SCAC after rebounding from a loss to River View last week. Olsufka said it meant more with the Knights on the verge of another, then bounce back in three straight games to win the match.

"A lot of heart to be down two games," Olsufka said. "I told them that Burbank was down to games to River View and came back and beat them and I told them lets do that tonight on our home court."

The Knights showed fire to open the first game, jumping to a 6-2 lead over the Coyotes. Columbia-Burbank quickly extinguished the rally with a 6-2 swing of its own to tie the game at 8-8, then pull away from Royal to take a 15-10 lead and force the Knights into a timeout.

The Coyotes continued to pull away from Royal to eventually put the game away at 25-17.

Royal grabbed an early lead in game two, but Columbia-Burbank continued to control the momentum and held the Knights to little scoring opportunities through two-thirds of the game.

Trailing 20-13, Royal awoke from its slumber to whittle away at the Coyotes to close the gap to 24-23 before Ashley Baker to the ball into the net to end an 8-2 run and give the Coyotes its second game at 25-23.

"I think they started realizing, lets be aggressive and start hitting the ball," Olsufka said.

Both teams exchanged blows and errors in the third game, but under the serve of Baker, the Knights pulled a 7-2 lead with two aces from Baker and two kills from Sarah Anderson.

The serve bounced back-and-forth from Royal and the Coyotes, but favored the Knights in a lopsided 25-12 win, countering the previous two games.

Columbia-Burbank fought for life in game four, rallying from an 8-4 deficit, to pull the game to a closer 9-7 shortage. Similar to game two, the Knights built a commanding 22-15 lead, only to watch the Coyotes counter with a 5-2 point swing.

But, the aggressive play demanded by Olsufka provided Anderson with a game-winning kill.

"They had that mental image that they didn't want this game to end in three," Olsufka said.

What started out as a match that belonged to Columbia-Burbank, resulted in a do-or-die game five with momentum back into the hands of a once frustrated Royal volleyball team.

Rikki Carter took the momentum and led the Knights on a seven-point rally, setting up Angela Lang for two kills, Anderson with a block and confusing the Coyote return team with her serve.

Baker followed with five points from the line and a back-and-forth ending clinched a 15-4 game five win and 3-2 match victory.

Anderson finished the match with 16 kills and 11-for-19 serving, while teammate Carter had seven kills in the game. Baker contributed with 15-21 serving and six aces, along with 22 assists.

The Coyotes were led by Annie Campbell with 15 kills and Shana Smith had 12 kills for the night.

"It shows that our girls are starting to come along and understand this game a little better," Olsufka said.