Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Gorillas begin postseason next week
DAVENPORT - Taking advantage of a Lind-Ritzville/Sprague team down Zoe Galbreath, the Gorillas handed the Broncos their first loss outside tournament play of the season with a come-from-behind four-set victory Tuesday, Oct. 17.
The 3-1 (16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-23) win improved Davenport's record to 7-4, while LRS dropped to 12-1.
Davenport had trouble finding its footing at the start of the match. LRS jumped to an 11-5 first set lead, as the Gorillas knocked several kill attempts out of bounds and committed multiple service errors.
The LRS lead would grow to 20-10. Davenport closed the set outscoring the Broncos 6-5, but the visitors still took the set 25-16.
"We weren't playing our game. We weren't playing Davenport volleyball," Davenport head coach Natalee Hayes said. "Once we identified that we weren't doing that, (we) figured out what we could do and changed right after that."
The final three sets were all tight-knit affairs. The second was tied 13-13 as dig-set-spike chants between the two student sections became increasingly creative, including LRS students chanting "stick to soccer" and Davenport retorting "25 to 0," referencing the Broncos' football loss to Reardan last Friday.
LRS trimmed Davenport's lead to 24-23, but Faith Bell's kill finished off the set for a 25-23 Davenport victory.
That gave Davenport the momentum, as the Gorillas took a quick 8-3 lead in the third set. That lead turned into a 14-8 lead as the LRS student section was scolded for chanting curse words at a call they didn't like.
The students would make amends by chanting "We are sorry" as Davenport's lead turned to 16-10, then became a 25-21 set victory to put the Broncos on the brink.
The fourth and final set was very competitive. Davenport built a slim 8-7 lead that was extended to 18-14, but four straight LRS points tied the set that remained back-and-forth until the Gorillas finished the job with two straight points, culminating in a Koda Coffman ace to close the match.
"We got our first game jitters out, and we knew we could do it so we just went out and executed," Coffman said.
Davenport was led by Naomi Rainwater's 18 kills and two aces, Tatum Hupp's 16 digs and two aces and Coffman's 12 assists. Saige Galbreath had 23 digs and 10 kills for the Broncos, while Addy Colbert notched 23 assists and three aces.
Davenport will finish the regular season at Northwest Christian at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19 before the district playoffs begin Tuesday, Oct. 24. The Gorillas' opponent, match location and start time will be determined after the regular season.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
Reader Comments(0)