Eagles move to 3-1 with sweep of Cascade Christian

SOAP LAKE — Soap Lake improved to 3-1 in the early season, clinching its third-straight sweep after a 3-0 win over Cascade Christian on Tuesday night.

The Eagles have been improving with each outing on the court, head coach Niki Noble said.

“We struggled at the beginning, we had to work it out,” she said. “Our jamboree didn’t go so well and our game against Republic was a little iffy, but we were still trying to find our new positions. A few of the girls had new positions that they were put into, so they were learning the rotation. Now, we’ve seemed to get in a groove.”

A close first set was eventually won by Soap Lake after senior Olivia McCrady recorded an ace that pushed the Eagle lead to 22-17, capturing momentum and riding out to a 25-21 set win.

“The girls really thrive off of that. The momentum, when things start clicking together and they start making good plays, they really thrive off of those things,” Noble said. “It just propels them to do better. They love how it feels, they remember that and want that again.”

The second set began with the Eagles scoring the first eight points off serves by sophomore Mylee Dana, a hot start that led to a strong surge down the stretch of the set. Soap Lake went up 2-0 in the match after a 25-7 win in the second set.

Noble added that the Eagles had success implementing plays that the team learned during practice the day prior.

“I don’t think we had too many missed serves, that’s a big (factor),” Noble said. “We executed quite a few things that we had just practiced — I think that really helped and built their confidence as well.”

The third set was the closest between the Eagles and Wolverines, as the two squads traded blows through the early rallies. Cascade Christian found themselves with an 11-8 lead over Soap Lake, which the Eagles quickly tied at 11 after an ace by sophomore Sage Hart.

“They know when they make mistakes, and they know what they have to fix,” Noble said. “There’s a few things that I tweak during the game, but there’s not a whole lot that I have to change or fix during a game. They’re able to recognize (mistakes), make adjustments and come back strong to finish.”

Hart’s strong serving allowed the Eagles to score on eight of her nine serves in the third set, four of which were aces. The stretch of Hart’s serving allowed the Eagles to take an 18-12 lead, later winning the set 25-19 and claiming a 3-0 sweep of Cascade Christian.

“Knowing that we were down by that much, I thought that would get our heads in the game and start winning,” Hart said.

Noble added that before the third set began, Hart said she was “feeling it”Tuesday night and wanted to serve against the Wolverines.

“It felt amazing, I felt like I was in my own head out there,” Hart said. “It felt great.”

The Eagles will look to win their fourth in a row at home on Thursday against Riverside Christian. Home court advantage has become a real thing for Soap Lake this season, Noble said.

“Last year they were nervous to play at home in front of people they knew – now that they’re starting to make better plays and come out with wins and do things they feel good about on the court, they’re able to thrive off of the energy of the crowd,” Noble said.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score

Cascade Chr.: 21-7-19 0

Soap Lake: 25-25-25 3