Royal Knights cage Cougars

WARDEN — Warden and Royal met Tuesday night in South Central Athletic Conference volleyball competition and the Lady Knights caged the Lady Cougars for a three-game sweep.

Royal dominated the contest from the opening serve and the Knights never looked back as they earned the conference victory.

Although the Lady Cougars fell to conference rival Royal Tuesday night, Warden head coach Jeff Kottong said his team is improving.

“Our girls played better (tonight) than they had in the last two matches,” he said. “I was pleased about that.”

Royal controlled the momentum in the first game of Tuesday’s contest with Warden, keeping the Lady Cougars to just 18 points on their way to a 25-18 victory.

The Lady Cougars responded in the second game of the contest before falling four points shy of Royal as the Lady Knights held on for a 25-21 victory.

Royal continued to dominate the contest in game three, holding Warden to just 15 points as the Lady Knights rolled to the game three victory to take the match three games to zero.

Warden ran a new offense Tuesday night and Kottong said his team responded well.

“We ran a new offense and they implemented that pretty well,” he said of his team. “I think we were a little bit more consistent as far as being in the right spot.”

Warden travels to Wahluke Thursday night and Kottong said his team should continue to improve.

“As we get more practice with it, we will get better with it,” he said of his team’s new offense. “Our overall play was better.”

Emma Bisnett led the Lady Cougars at the net with four kills and a block and Emily Shuler provided six assists and an ace.

Kacey Kisler had 10 digs and a kill for Warden.

Royal’s Page Woodward provided 14 digs and six kills Tuesday night while Lacy Goroski and Caitlin Paysse each added seven kills.

Paysse led the Lady Knights in blocks with five and Goroski added four to pave the way for Royal.

The Lady Knights host River View Thursday night at 7 p.m.