Ephrata prevails in volleyball's Battle of the Basin

QUINCY - The Ephrata Tigers volleyball team has size. The next step is using that size to their advantage.

Tuesday's 25-5, 25-20, 25-15 victory over archrival Quincy could be a harbinger of things to come for Ephrata, which has four players who stand 5-foot-10 or taller. Middle blockers Brianna Moser, Greer Monson and Alex DeHoog slapped down or altered a great deal of the Jackrabbits' shots, while star senior Britney Ratigan went over Quincy's smaller blockers for a large chunk of the Tigers' points.

Ephrata head coach Kim Crown was quick to praise her front line.

"They did a good job up there tonight," Crown said. They were aggressive at the net and ready to hit it back. They were prepared."

Prepared might be the word that best described Ephrata's effort. The Tigers' last visit to Quincy's gymnasium didn't go as well.

"They were really prepared to play because the last time we played here, (Quincy) beat us, caught us off guard," Crown said. "The girls, they were not going to let that happen again. They were fired up. They were ready to go."

That was obvious in game one, as the Tigers used eight straight serves from senior Breane Duff to build a 9-0 lead. Ratigan and DeHoog also had solid first-game performances and Quincy never threatened.

However, the Tigers' blowout victory served as a wake-up call for the Lady Jacks.

"The first game, I felt the score didn't really reflect how well they did play," Quincy head coach Jeanne Brindle said. "They just didn't get it finished. That's what we did in our very first game against Ellensburg - we couldn't finish."

Quincy took a 9-6 lead in game two before Crown called time out. It served its purpose as Ephrata slowly regained control. Two Quincy hitting errors and kills from Ratigan and DeHoog put the Tigers up two games.

Quincy again came out strong in game three, taking a 9-5 advantage. Crown again called time, and her girls responded once more, winning 20 of the last 26 points.

"We started getting tentative and not taking care of the ball," Crown said of the slow starts to games two and three. "(We were) just kind of getting it over instead of having a purpose to the play. I just told them to get back into our game mode."

Brindle felt her young squad - which features three sophomores in the starting six - did a nice job of containing Ratigan, one of the Central Washington Athletic Conference's best players. Ratigan collected 12 kills, four digs and two aces.

"I think we did fine against her," Brindle said. "My front row's got to get a little stronger on their blocking."

Moser hurt the Lady Jacks more, putting down 13 kills to go along with nine blocks and four aces. Duff dished out 14 assists to go along with nine aces and seven digs, while DeHoog had four blocks and four kills.

Rachel Tobin had five kills to lead Quincy's offense and Becca Boen had four kills. Taylor Kunkel had 11 digs, Mandle Brindle had 10 digs and Kyla Horning and Samantha Reynolds had eight apiece.

Ephrata travels to Othello for 7 p.m. match on Thursday, while Quincy receives a league bye before hosting Warden in a Saturday non-leaguer at 11 a.m.

"It's a good way to start out the week because we head to Othello on Thursday," Crown said. "We have some things to work on, but we did some nice things, too."