Chiefs upset Cadets in thrilling fashion

Moses Lake came into Tuesday night's contest as the third place team in the Big 9 conference and with a chip on their shoulder as they prepared to go to battle with the number one team in the league, Eisenhower.

The Chiefs have had an up and down season resulting in a 5-4 conference record and a 5-8 overall record, while the Cadets have been nearly perfect going 9-0 in Big 9 play and 10-1 overall; needless to say the Chiefs had their work cut out for them as they hosted Eisenhower. It was a classic underdog upset as the Chiefs went up two games to none, only to lose two straight and rally to win in the deciding fifth game.

This game had it all, emotion, close calls, controversy, arguments among coaches, loud fans cheering, and most importantly, great plays on the court.

The Chiefs came out on senior night with a vengeance and took game one in dominating style with a 25-11 win over the conference leading Cadets. They kept the momentum going into game two winning 25-22, but it became clear that Eisenhower wasn't going to go away without a fight and they began to heat up towards the final points of game two.

Game three was Eisenhower's from the start as the jumped out to an early lead and held on 25-16. Game four was the most exciting game of the first (regulation) four, with four ties and a see-saw battle throughout. With the score 12-13 and the Chiefs trailing by one, the Cadets began to pull away and went up 14-19 when Moses Lake called a time out.

Greta Hammer gave the team a spark after breaking the huddle as she got an ace to rally the crowd and her team back into the game. Eisenhower again pulled away after some miscues by the Chiefs and balls that were overhit and went out of bounds, the Cadets won game four by a score of 25-20.

This forced a deciding game five, in which the first team to 15 with a two point lead would win.

The match started off with Eisenhower taking control and going up 2-0, but Moses Lake quickly rally back to tie things up at 2-2. The Chiefs scored next to go up a point, and with the momentum beginning to swing their way, Carina LaFave got an ace to put her team up two points. Both teams continued to battle back and forth with some great volleys until Kayla Grigg hit a kill shot to put Moses Lake up 6-4 which got the student section on their feet.

Eisenhower quickly knotted things up at 6-6 again, but Moses Lake continued to ride the high of the home crowd and pulled away. On Marissa Strickland's kill shot, the Chief's got up 10-7 with their largest lead to that point in the deciding fifth game. After both teams scored a point to make the score 11-8, an intense volley ensued with both teams making clutch plays to keep the ball alive, when the Eisenhower labero was called for an illegal set for being in the front row when setting the ball.

The Cadet coach began to argue with the officials to no avail, as the student section chanted with victory on the horizon, "here we go Chiefs, here we go!" After Eisenhower hit a shot long and out of bounds, the score was 14-10 and the Chiefs were just a point away from scoring their biggest win of the 2013 season. LaFave went back to serve and the ball went back and forth across the net multiple times with neither team wanting to fold. But with the home crowd cheering them along to victory, senior Bailley Lublin came up with a kill shot for the win that sent the Chiefs bench running on the court to embrace her.

Moses Lake's dramatic walk-off win improves their record to 6-4 in Big 9 play and gives Eisenhower their only loss in league play this season. The Chiefs had a great team effort to pick up the victory, but on senior night, seniors Bailley Lublin, Carina LaFave, and Kayla Grigg all played amazing volleyball.

Lublin shined with 6 digs and 4 kills, including the game winner, while LaFave had 8 kills and 5 digs and Grigg added 7 kills. In addition to the seniors the Chiefs got big games from sophomore Greta Hammer, who had 6 kills and 3 aces and junior Ashley Sampson with 18 digs, but perhaps the most impressive game of the night was turned in by junior Kylee McKay who had 4 aces and 28 crucial assists.

It was an emotionally charged win for the Chiefs that had all the elements needed for a great sporting event: great fans, great sportsmanship, and great plays. For Moses Lake it was the biggest win of the season and the most important win for first year coach Mike DeHoog. Now the Chiefs will look to build off their victory over the number one team in the Big 9.