Moses Lake defeats Eastmont in four games
It was an important win for the Chiefs on Tuesday night on their home court against Big 9 rival Eastmont. The 3-1 victory kept Moses Lake in the hunt for the postseason as they remained in third place behind Wenatchee and Eisenhower by improving their conference record to .500 with a 3-3 record. Down the stretch contending with Eisenhower (6-0 in league) and Wenatchee (5-1 in league) will be no easy task, but with the momentum building it is not out of the question now.
The Chiefs took the first game 25-22 with clutch serving and kills from Kylee McKay and Bailley Lublin and an emphatic tap over the net for a kill to end the game by Carina LaFave. The second game would be back and forth similar to the first match with a see-saw battle that saw Moses Lake jump out to a 10-8 lead on two straight scoring serves from Kayla Griggs. Eastmont would score on the next play to make it a one point game before the Chiefs would go on a five to two run and stretch their lead to 15-11 and they would keep rolling from there and take game two by a score of 25-17.
Eastmont would turn the tide in game three and capitalize on the Chiefs miscues to pull away late in the game and win 25-23 and make the game's score 2-1 going into game four. The Chiefs would get a pep talk from head coach Michael DeHoog and come back out on the other side of the net with a new found intensity after dropping game three. Led by seniors Carly Kornado and Lublin the Chiefs would jump out to an early lead in the fourth game in an attempt to not allow Eastmont to force a decisive game five. The Chiefs wouldn't get rid of the Wildcats that easy, as they battled back and again made it a close game right down to the wire. Some timely kills and blocks from sophomore Greta Hammer helped the Chiefs on their way to a 25-23 victory and a 3-1 overall win.
The Chiefs were led by Korando who had eight digs and six kills, Lublin who filled the stat sheet with six aces, five kills and 10 digs, but a valiant effort late in the contest from Hammer who scored eight kills and six blocks pushed the Chiefs to victory. While Moses Lake got outstanding individual efforts on Tuesday, it was a true team effort that propelled them past Eastmont in a battle of two teams so closely matched that three of the four games were decided by three points or less.
The big takeaway from the contest is that it showed growth for a Chiefs team that has been in transition with a new coach and a young roster; building confidence heading into the home stretch by overcoming adversity and winning three very close games. Next up for Moses Lake will be another home match this Saturday against Mead.