Tigers volleyball earns road victory over Jacks

QUINCY — The Ephrata Tigers volleyball team (2-4) won in three sets on the road against the Quincy Jackrabbits (0-4) Tuesday evening in an early season matchup. With just a few games before the start of league play, both teams are looking to gain key insights to play at their best. 

“My girls are just coming together super well, I’m really proud of them,” said Tigers Head Coach McKaidan Boyd. “There’s a lot of different girls stepping up to the plate and applying everything that we’ve been working so hard on and it really showed.” 

The Tigers, coming off their first win of the season last Saturday against North Central, came into Tuesday’s game with energy as they built lead over the Jacks. By the end of the set, Ephrata had created a significant gap between the teams and won the set 25-7.

Quincy found more momentum as they went into the second set, and despite being down, kept the score close. The Tigers found opportunities to score later to stay ahead of the Jacks and ended the second set 25-18 in favor of Ephrata. 

In the final set, Ephrata built an early 7-1 lead over Quincy and maintained high energy throughout. The Jacks stayed persistent and worked to close the gap between them, but the Tigers capitalized on enough opportunities and finished the third set 25-15 to claim a 3-0 victory on the night. 

“They definitely needed a couple wins under their belt in order to gain that confidence and also just keep the momentum,” said Boyd. “Now that we did that on Saturday and then swept Quincy in three, everybody’s feeling really confident and excited for the game moving forward.” 

What has helped uplift the Tigers in the last two games has been their focus on the team aspect of bringing energy and putting intention into their overall goal, said the Tigers coach. As they keep their team unity in sight, Ephrata has made huge strides in finding success on the court. 

She said this was highlighted in Tuesday’s game against Quincy as they remained consistent in their hits, which allowed them to take control of the game. 

“We chose to play our game, not just be in a reactive state, and it’s just showing growth and maturity,” said Boyd.  

The Tigers coach said she also saw a few players step up such as sophomore Bergen Lauver and junior Clarissa Johnson. 

“Both of my middles are just coming out hard and applying everything we’ve been working on in practice,” she said. “Them stepping up has been a huge impact for everybody.” 

Even with their successes, Boyd said the team still has to work on their mental strength during matches. She wants the Tigers to feel comfortable relying on each other after a mistake rather than getting in their own heads. 

This is something that will come with time as the young team and new coach all work to meld together this season.  

“We’re always growing and learning together, and I think as that confidence comes, they’re starting to believe in themselves and each other,” said Boyd. “Getting some of that experience as well helps with their overall confidence, so I think it’s going really well.” 

Jacks Head Coach Chelsea Wallace said a lot of Quincy’s struggles early in the game came from nerves. Heading into a rivalry, Battle of the Basin, match for only their second home game was a challenge, but as the game went on she noted that the Jacks got into their groove. 

“We started to see some really aggressive serving, we started to see us converting some of those free balls that we were being given into points,” said Wallace. 

She said the Jacks had three main standouts on the squad that had a great game Tuesday against the Tigers. Sadie Stoddard, a junior for Quincy, had phenomenal serving consistency and stayed focused on the timing for her blocks. 

Two of Quincy’s seniors Valeria Navarro and Yazmin Galicia also were standouts against Ephrata. Wallace said Navarro has been a dynamic player in any position and has stepped up as a leader on the team and Galicia showed ownership of the back row which helped condense their errors. 

“We’re just seeing a lot of growth in players, and it’s been a lot of fun,” said the Jacks coach.  

As Quincy heads further into the season, Wallace said she is still working players into new positions as others are out with injury. While this has somewhat changed the team dynamic, she said, the Jacks are planning to work hard at practice to get past their errors. 

“There’s a lot of really great things that each of these girls are bringing to the table, and we’re just waiting for all of that to fall into place,” she said. “We very much foresee a win in our future.” 

The Jacks head on the road to face Liberty Bell tonight at 6:30 p.m., and the Tigers return home to face Prosser tonight at 6 p.m. and will host a volleyball tournament Saturday starting at 8 a.m. 

BOX SCORE  

EPHT: 25-25-25: 3 

QNCY: 7-18-15: 0 

    Sadie Stoddard (8) a junior from Quincy goes low to respond to a serve from Ephrata Tuesday evening.
  

    Ephrata sophomore Bergen Lauver serves the ball Tuesday afternoon during the road game against Quincy.
  

    Karlee Weber, a junior from the Jacks, hits the ball back over the net against the Tigers.
  

    Scarlet Wolther a sophomore from Ephrata leaps up to slam the ball back over toward Quincy during Tuesday’s matchup.
  

    Jacks freshman Gabby Bergman steps up to serve Tuesday evening as Quincy hosted the Tigers.