Royal at Zillah Invite

ZILLAH - Showing improvement of late, the Royal Lady Knights travelled to the Zillah Invitational on Saturday and came away with a 1-2 record on the day.

The Lady Knights (6-11) started off with a 2-0 (25-8, 25-13) rout of White Swan, sparked by nine total team aces.

Marija Rollema had five digs, four kills and three aces, Lindsey Christensen finished with 11 digs, Ashlyn Allred ended up with three kills, Ali Anderson recorded nine assists and Moriah Christensen served up three aces for Royal.

In their next match, the Lady Knights dropped a 2-0 (25-13, 25-11) decision to the host Zillah squad, which represents the South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) West Division.

Royal hails from the SCAC East.

"The other side of league very strong with not many weak teams," Royal head coach Paul Olsufka said. "They tend to play a lot of summer ball in the Yakima area and it shows.  Too many service errors in this one with six out of 25 serve attempts."

The Lady Knights showed a lot of improvement in the next and final match, a 2-1 (21-25, 25-19, 15-11) defeat against Riverview.

Terin Gonzales and Rollema each finished with six kills, while Moriah Christensen had eight assists, Ali Anderson had 10 assists and four digs, and Lindsey Christensen completed her day with a three-kill effort.

"We had some great opportunities in this one to maybe come up with a win but, we are improving with every match," Olsufka said. "A lack of experience is playing a big role in not coming away with victories.  The girls are working hard and never give up, believing they will make a difference in our upcoming matches."