Lady Lions lose

MLCA loses four game battle at home

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake Christian Academy fought hard to protect their home court but were shut down by Waterville 3-1 Thursday.

The Lady Lions battled for a close win in game one to take an early lead on the night.

Game one began with a sideout for Moses Lake but the Lady Lions were able to regain possession after some quick defensive work by Esther Timofeyev at the net.

"Esther is doing very well. She's learning," said Moses Lake head coach Dean Spurbeck. "She's a sophomore and I expect her to get stronger and smarter as the year goes on."

Lindsay Dietzen got the scoring started for Moses Lake, earning the team their second point of the match with the help of a big block from Timofeyev.

"Lindsay is a senior and she's really a team leader. We rely on her," Spurbeck said.

Both teams traded sideouts and the lead until Timofeyev provided a 6-5 lead with her serving. Moses Lake did not look back after Timofeyev's trip behind the line.

Chelsea Allsbrook and Rebecca Verhage further extended the lead for Moses Lake.

With the Lady Lions' lead standing at 15-11, Timofeyev added two more points before siding out to Waterville.

The Lady Chargers slowly chipped away at Moses Lake's lead and whittled it to one point before returning serve to the Lady Lions.

Verhage, Heidi Sandberg and Dietzen each served for a point, including an ace from Deitzen for game point near the end of the match. Dietzen's ace was followed by a sideout to give Waterville their 20th point of the game.

The Lady Chargers scored three more points before siding out to give Moses Lake the 25-23 win.

In game two Moses Lake got off to a sluggish start, allowing three Waterville points before earning a sideout and then quickly relinquishing server.

Waterville's fourth server of the game took advantage of Moses Lake's trouble digging out a jump serve and built up a 12-4 lead before Sandberg was able to stop the momentum of the Lady Chargers with a kill.

After Waterville's early run both teams traded serve and sideout with Moses Lake being unable to catch up and falling 25-17.

Game three began with another jump-serving barage from Waterville. The Lady Chargers racked up a 12-0 lead after Moses Lake's opening serve yielded a sideout.

After a kill from Dietzen, the Lady Lions slowly built up some momentum but it was too little too late and dropped the game 25-15.

The night's fourth and final game saw another early scoring run from the Lady Chargers.

Moses Lake battled to force a fifth game but could not muster the serving needed to recover from the early point deficit and lost 25-14.

Timofeyev led the team with 12 digs, eight kills, four aces and four blocks. Ashley Cole had 19 assists. Sandberg had 12 digs. Dietzen had six kills and 12 digs.