Young Chiefs volleyball stand up in 3-1 loss to Ferris
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Moses Lake setter Serina Haneberg (2) goes up for the block in the first game against Ferris in nonleague action Tuesday night. Ferris won 3-1.
Rodney Harwood/Coliumbia Basin HeraldThe young Moses Lake volleyball team kept slugging away against Ferris from the Greater Spokane League Tuesday night in a nonleague match at home. Ferris won 3-1.
MOSES LAKE — The thing is Moses Lake is not exactly a hotbed for summer club volleyball, so when the Chiefs go up against teams from Spokane, Tri-Cities or Yakima, they’re facing players that have been going year-round.
That being said, the young Chiefs (0-1) stood their ground at home in a nonleague match with Ferris from the Greater Spokane League, extending the Saxons to four sets in a 3-1 loss — 25-16, 19-25, 25-18, 25-18.
They came out a little jittery, but they borrowed a line from Tom Petty, “ … In a world that keeps pushin’ me around. But I stand my ground. And I won’t back down … ”
Moses Lake, which has just three seniors, stood its ground, taking the second set to even things up at 1-1. The Saxons took it up a notch in the final two games, but the Chiefs responded, slugging it out with a team that featured 6-foot-1 setter Katelyn Brock in the middle, who finished with eight kills, including four with a nifty left-hand tap into open space.
“(Brock’s) what we call a triple threat. She can set. She can dunk and she can hit,” Moses Lake coach Jennifer Gering said. “There were times when she did all three. We did finally block her a couple of times, so we’re learning.
“Our serve-receive in the third set was lacking. We came back and fixed it. But, yeah, we need to work on the first pass.”
The Chiefs closed to 17-15 in the pivotal third set, but in a game of runs, Ferris grabbed the momentum and extended its lead to 24-18 before Moses Lake could respond.
“We had a really good jamboree this weekend and we’re really excited to get out on the floor. I think we played a little scared in the first set, but we settled down and relaxed a little bit,” senior Renee Ohs said. “We’re really close and we’ve been playing together for a long time. From last year to this year is such a big change and I’m really excited moving forward.”
Gabi Rios, Alecia Haws and Ohs all finished with five kills apiece. The front row in turn combined for 14 blocks, including five stuff blocks. Haws had a couple of stuffs and Rios, Ohs, Meagan Karstetter had one apiece. Setter Serina Haneberg spread the ball around, finishing with 20 assists.
“We got it to 1-1 we got into a groove,” Rios said. “We were a little more confident. With this being our first home game, we were all a little jittery. But we settled down. We’ve grown up playing together, we’ll figure it out and come together.”
Moses Lake plays at Othello on Sept. 17.