Moses Lake earns victory

Lady Chiefs get revenge for early season loss

MOSES LAKE The Lady Chiefs battled a tough Eisenhower team Tuesday, winning the match-up in five games.

In the deciding game, Moses Lake traded serves and sideouts with the Lady Cadets until Shayla May earned a kill to return serve to the Lady Chiefs.

Taisha Haines served four consecutive points to give Moses Lake a 6-1 lead in the race to 15 with help in the form of a tip and kill from Amanda Hickman and a block from Rebecca Madrishin.

Despite relinquishing serve, Moses Lake continued to pressure Ike and earned serve again on a kill from Jhenesis Garza.

Both teams began to struggle through the middle of the game until a tip from Brianne Roylance gave the Lady Chiefs the spark they needed.

Madrishin served two points, including one ace, that put Moses Lake ahead 12-5 before siding out. Eisenhower could not muster the service points they needed to stay in the game.

Roylance served the final point for Moses Lake to win 15-7.

"It's so nice to beat Ike," said Moses Lake head coach Amy Utter. "They played better tonight than they did last time we played them."

Game two marked Moses Lakes first win of the night and was a tight game beginning to end.

The Lady Chiefs earned a 3-0 lead on the serving of May who earned two consecutive aces before Moses Lake sided out.

Ike then pulled ahead on their first possession of the game to make it 4-3.

Both teams continued to trade points, until the Lady Cadets earned serve on a lengthy rally. Ike went on to serve for a 12-8 lead.

After a time out, Moses Lake regrouped and earned a sideout but could not maintain serve.

The Lady Cadets maintained a solid lead until siding out with 18 points on the board. Haines took over serve for the Lady Chiefs and earned four points to make it 18-16 with help from two kills by Garza and one from Hickman.

After the next sideout, Moses Lake took a short-lived lead with serving from Hickman and a kill by Madrishin.

Ike earned a sideout to tie the game at 20 and then again at 21 but a block from the net duo of May and Madrishin killed the Lady Cadets momentum.

With the game tied at 21, Madrishin served out the match that was puncutated by a kill from Roylance to earn the 25-21 win.

"We are continuing to improve," said Utter. "We are playing as a team and being persistent in what we are doing."

The Lady Chiefs followed up their game two win with another victory in game three.

Ike sided out to begin the game and Roylance took advantage of the error for Moses Lake, earning three points to put the Lady Chiefs up 4-0.

Moses Lake continued to extend their lead a few points at a time until they had earned an 8-4 margin.

After earning their eighth point on an Ike sideout, Moses Lake sent Garza back to serve. Garza served three points with two kills from Roylance to push the lead to 11-4 before siding out.

Eisenhower began to chip away at the lead, closing to gap to four points mid-way through the game but the Lady Cadets could not erase the early lead.

Madrishin pushed the lead to 23-15 before Ike earned a kill for a sideout.

The Lady Cadets earned one point on the ensuing service but were cut short by a tip from May.

The Lady Chiefs found themselves with a game point on the sideout but could not put the game away, giving Ike one more chance to extend the game.

Moses Lake earned the 25-20 win after allowing two aces from the Lady Cadets before forcing the sideout.

"The thing, as usual, about my team is that you don't remember just one player," Utter said. "Tonight they all did a good job of cleaning up errors and not making the same mistake twice."

Moses Lake lost game one 25-22 and game four 25-23.

"Tonight was fun to watch. It was nice to win at home," said Utter. "Our next three games are huge."

May ended the night with 44 assists and 17 digs. Garza had 13 kills and 27 digs. Roylance had 15 kills and 25 digs. Haines had six kills and five blocks. Madrishin had six kills, 11 blocks and six aces. Hickman had 15 kills and 21 digs. Kelsey Padilla had 14 digs.