Knights, Jacks battle for victory

ROYAL CITY — The Lady Knights were poised to take their first match of the season after a hard-fought game three but were brought up short by the Lady Jacks.

"I'm excited," said Quincy head coach Jeanne Brindle. "We played five hard games. I've got a lot of young girls out there but we're hoping to get in there."

Royal began game four with five consecutive points, including one kill by junior Stephanie Bartlett when Quincy's Allison Schaapman earned a sideout with a kill of her own.

The early work from Schaapman slowly began to change the momentum of the game with the Lady Jacks adding to their score little by little.

The Lady Knights gained two more points to go up 7-3 on Quincy before siding out and giving the Lady Jacks an opportunity to get back into the game.

Schaapman took advantage of the chance, scoring an ace on her first serve of the game and having her serving work backed up by a kill from Taylor Kunkel and a block from Kimi Goto. Quincy tied the game at seven before relinquishing possession of serve to Royal. The Lady Knights scored another point before losing serve.

Quincy continued to battle, pulling ahead 14-10 on the short serving of Goto.

Royal rallied back, earning a tie before losing possession after a kill from Quincy's Lauren Huxtable.

Both teams played neck-and-neck through the end of the game with Quincy squeaking out a 25-23 win to send the match into a deciding game five.

In the race to 15, Royal served to early points to gain the advantage over the Lady Jacks and pressed their advantage through to the end.

With a mere five points on the board for Quincy, the Lady Jacks sided out on a kill by Royal's Alyssa Christensen.

The Lady Knights' Kori Scroggins stepped behind the service line and scored four points for her team to put Royal up 13-5.

Quincy worked to make the match last, earning a kill from Schaapman and another from Huxtable to help make it 13-8.

Royal earned a game point on a sideout before giving Quincy their ninth point of the game after a kill from Huxtable. Quincy was unable to capitalize on the sideout, giving Royal the game winning point on a sideout.

"It's great," said new Royal head coach Ashley Roberts. "It felt good to get it (the first game) under our belt."

In game one, Quincy overpowered Royal, earning four consecutive points on the serving of Kunkel. A late serving stand by Schaapman put Quincy up 18-10 before Royal was able to earn a sideout.

The Lady Knights could not retain their serve and Quincy's Goto served out the 25-12 win for the Lady Jacks.

Royal edged Quincy in game two, trading sideout points until Bartlett was able to pull Royal ahead 16-14 before siding out. Christensen pushed two more points for the Lady Knights, making it 19-15.

Cindy Janett earned the 22nd and 23rd points for Royal, and Janea Anderson finished out the game for a 25-19 victory.

Royal maintained the same margin of victory in game three, jumping out to an early lead to finish strong. The Lady Knights won the game on a Quincy sideout.

For Royal, Bartlett had nine kills, Anderson had 11 assists and Tracy Iverson had one block. For Quincy, Huxtable had 14 kills and three blocks, Kunkel had seven kills and three blocks and Schaapman had five kills.

Royal heads to a tournament in Burbank Saturday while Quincy begins league play with a match against Ellensburg at 7 p.m. Thursday in Quincy.