Lions send seven seniors out in style

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake Christian volleyball coach Dean Spurbeck is used to saying farewell to a small group of seniors in the season's final home match.

Not this year.

On Tuesday, the Lady Lions honored seven players in their Senior Night match, a talented group who helped Moses Lake Christian sweep Pateros 25-19, 25-17, 25-17 in North Central Washington League action.

The Lions, who'd already clinched the league's No. 1 seed to next week's district tournament, had very few challenges from the visiting Nannies. Moses Lake Christian passed the ball exceptionally well and dominated at the net, mixing in a short set strategy that's fairly unique to the 1B classification. Instead of high sets, short sets are used to disrupt the timing among the opponents' blockers.

"We just started adding it," Spurbeck said. "We're kind of getting to the point now where that's what's next. We're trying to get a few more plays in for the playoffs.

"At this level you don't see a lot of it," he added. "We've got a good enough bunch and we pass good enough that we can start running some of them."

The Lions bid farewell to their seniors prior to the match. The Class of 2008 includes Chelsea Allsbrook, Lindsay Brader, Ashley Cole, Jessica Jachetta, Madison Jennings, Heidi Sandberg and Andi Skaug.

"The senior group is a large group finally," Spurbeck said. "It's nice to have a big group like that and they have good leadership - that's nice and they played well."

Sandberg, perhaps the most talented member of that group, had a solid all-around effort against Pateros, recording 11 digs, eight kills and five aces.

"Heidi's improved as a middle hitter and that's kind of what we needed her to do," Spurbeck said. "Her passing has improved a lot from last year."

Sandberg and junior Esther Timofeyev were the Lions' offensive catalysts most of the evening. Moses Lake Christian used a series of three-point runs to grab control of game one, leading by as many as eight points.

The Lions took an immediate stranglehold on game two behind Sandberg's serving, scoring the first four points and never trailing. In game three, Sandberg served six straight points to help the hosts to a 7-1 bulge.

Cole, the team's senior setter, did an outstanding job of spreading the ball around to hitters Timofeyev, Sandberg, Jennings and Allsbrook. She had 21 assists and added eight digs on defense.

Timofeyev had team highs with 14 kills and 16 digs. Allsbrook added 15 digs. When the Nannies were able to get some clean hits on their side of the net, the Lions were there to save them.

Moses Lake Christian had its perfect record evaporate last Thursday in a non-league match with 2B power Manson, but Spurbeck was pleased with his team's performance.

"We got up for it," he said. "It's just that we're not used to playing at that level. To win at that level, you've got to play more games at that level.

"We actually had more kills than they did, it's just cleaning up some of the stuff on our own side."

Moses Lake Christian receives a league bye on Thursday, then finishes the regular season on Saturday at Wilson Creek, an 11 a.m. start.

"We've got to continue to improve," Spurbeck said of the team's mindset as it finishes league play. "After that's it's playoffs, so we don't want to overlook (Wilson Creek)."