Ephrata volleyball pulls off Senior Night shocker

Tigers 3, Huskies 2

EPHRATA - If anyone left after the second game of Thursday's Ephrata-Othello volleyball match, they were probably secure in their belief that the Huskies were on their way to a cakewalk victory.

Othello had dominated at the net and Ephrata was struggling with its communication, leading to wins of 25-19 and 25-16 and a 2-0 lead for the visiting Huskies at Marty O'Brien Court. It looked to be a near certainty that Othello would even the score from an earlier five-game loss to the Tigers.

"We just didn't look like we were ready to go," Ephrata head coach Kim Crown said. "I could feel it in warm-ups - they just weren't ready."

Then, like a burst of lightning from a cloudless sky, the Tigers came to life.

Playing in front of a charged-up Homecoming crowd on Senior Night, Ephrata got several key performances and rallied for wins of 25-22, 25-23 and 15-9 to sweep its Central Washington Athletic Conference rivals.

"It was a late start, but it was a good way to end our last streak at home," said Ephrata's Britney Ratigan, who finished with 16 kills, 13 digs and two blocks. "We played tough."

Othello's Allison Walker won the battle with Ratigan for star player of the match - she had 22 kills and 15 digs - but the Huskies struggled to put Walker in good offensive positions in the final three games. Crown and Othello head coach Steve Parris both touched on Walker's lack of involvement as a key to Ephrata's turnaround.

"Our passing wasn't as crisp," Parris said of the last three games. "That makes it tougher to make those sets."

"That's what I noticed, was their serve receive started to crumbled," Crown said. "We just needed to get our block up against her. She's going to get her kills because she's a good player, but if we can just slow down some of her hits and not let her get on fire, then that's our goal."

Walker and Kylee Mollotte, who added 15 kills, blew through the Tigers' blockers early on. Othello used several three- and four-point runs to grab control of both games, largely due to strong setting from Justine Villarreal (23 assists) and Kayla Dickson (12 assists, seven digs).

But Ephrata took advantage of several Huskie errors in game three, then got Ratigan going in game four.

"Our big thing was we wanted to shut down Ratigan," Parris said. "She's their best player out there and a great hitter. We had two blockers on her every single time. We held her in check, really, until the fourth game."

In the decisive fifth game, Othello's errors continued piling up - even from Walker, who missed on some key kill attempts. Ratigan scored the final point in an unusual manner, saving an errant pass that wound up hitting just inside Othello's end line.

BreAnne Duff led Ephrata with 18 assists and added eight kills. Carli McDonnell had 14 assists, Darcee Fales served four aces, and Briana Moser chipped in four blocks, three kills and one ace. Othello's Oli Lopez was 17 of 18 serving and had 15 digs.

Beyond the fired-up crowd at O'Brien Court, the Tigers had another reason for wanting to win - Crown is leaving the program at season's end.

"She's a great coach," Ratigan said. "It was good to end our streak for our seniors and her last home game."

Crown credited her group with continuing a recent trend - improving upon the previous match's performance.

"They've been playing well and they've been improving every match," Crown said. "That's the most heart I've ever seen them play with and this is the time of the season we want to see that coming to the surface."

Ephrata, third in the CWAC North, finishes the regular season next Thursday at Ellensburg. Othello is fourth in the division and needs to beat Ellensburg next Tuesday or Quincy next Thursday to wrap up a playoff spot.

"We control our own destiny out there," Parris said. "Hopefully we take care of business Tuesday and we don't have to worry about Thursday."