Moses Lake volleyball blues continue against Blue Devils

MOSES LAKE - A season with a lot of promise has turned into one of frustration for the Moses Lake Chiefs volleyball team.

Another loss on Thursday night, this one a 25-12, 25-17, 25-12 waxing at the hands of the Walla Walla Blue Devils, left Chiefs head coach Amy Utter and her girls scratching their heads and wondering where the season has gone. Moses Lake is 0-10 in Columbia Basin League 4A matches.

What does Utter attribute to her team's struggles at the moment?

"It's not a lack of skill - it's a lack of confidence in our ability," she said. "It's hard to win when you haven't been winning."

Moses Lake's last match at Chief Gym, Oct. 2 against Richland, saw the Chiefs play at a high level and was a match Utter believed her girls would build upon. But after a disappointing three-game sweep to league-leading Eisenhower on Tuesday, the Chiefs were even flatter against Wa-Hi last night.

"A week ago we just played tough against one of the top teams in the league," Utter said of the five-game loss to second-place Richland. "It kind of seemed like, 'OK, we've turned a corner as a team."

Once Blue Devil libero Taryn Cummings served four consecutive points to put the visitors up 13-8 in game one, Moses Lake didn't muster much of a threat the rest of the evening. The Chiefs had difficulty defending a balanced Wa-Hi attack, led by Madison Baxter's 12 kills, nine from Melissa Eastman and seven from Rachel Todorovich.

Todorovich, a 6-foot-1 junior, added 21 assists, four blocks and led Wa-Hi's dominant serving game with five aces, tying for the team-high with Ann Coleman.

"She's solid," Utter said of Todorovich. "We dug her a few times and she served us off the court in game two."

Utter was referring to the nine straight points Todorovich served to open up a 24-12 margin. Wa-Hi's Kenna Ross had a six-point run early in game three and the Blue Devils cruised from there.

Defense has typically been the Chiefs' strength this season, but not in the past few matches.

"Hitting consistently has been our struggle," Utter said. "We sort of got a handle on that last week. I suppose that's the way it goes - we fixed something and now we have to fix something else.

"We're not a huge team, so we don't block that well," she added. "We have to make up for that defensively by digging behind our blockers. Generally, we're OK at that, and we just weren't tonight."

One of the evening's bright spots, as she's been all season, was Shayla May. The senior had 18 assists, two kills and an ace, good numbers considering her team's overall play.

"Shayla May is doing a great job," Utter said. "You don't notice how hard she's working. I was teasing her about having a huge raspberry on her leg and I said, 'I'm surprised you don't have more than that, you've got to be exhausted.' It seemed like she was running circles around everyone tonight.

"Setter's one of those thankless jobs that you don't get a lot of recognition for," she added. "She doing a good job of doing what she can."

Shelby Gonzales led the Chiefs in three categories, recording nine kills, seven digs and three aces. Iesha Garza had four kills, six digs and an ace.

Moses Lake travels to the Spokane Crossover Tournament today, an event that features 64 teams throughout the Pacific Northwest. The Chiefs resume league play next Tuesday at Wenatchee.

Utter thinks her girls are capable of ending the year on a positive note if they can find that missing link - confidence.

"The league is tough, no doubt," she said. "But I don't think we have a team or two at the top of the league that are head and shoulders above everyone else.

"I think when we play our best volleyball, we can play with anyone in the league," Utter added. "We're just not playing our best volleyball right now."