The W.F. West volleyball team came away with an impressive victory on Tuesday, sweeping Centralia 25-21, 25-22, 25-17 in the two teams’ first meeting of the season.
It’s W.F. West’s first EvCo win of the season, and it puts them tied for third along with Centralia, Aberdeen, and Shelton just before the midway mark of league play.
“I am very pleased with our performance tonight,” W.F. West coach Tiffany Alvarado said. “It feels good to see all the hard work these girls are putting in at practices pay off.”
Alvarado said that the Bearcats had to be strategic with their ball placement, and she was pleased with the way her attackers answered the challenge.
“I think our attackers were very dynamic and read the court well,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado also gave credit to her defense, noting that their coverage was key to keeping several balls in play.
Emma McGreal had 13 digs, nine kills, and two aces on 90 percent serving, and Vivy Witchey added five digs and seven kills without a hitting error.
Madelynn Panther added eight kills, three digs, and an ace, while Ariana Wheaton tallied 18 digs, four kills, and four aces while missing just one serve on 14 attempts.
Emily Stajduhar had a six-point serving run in the second set to help W.F. West retake the lead in that set, and she went on to finish with 12 digs and just two missed serves on 16 attempts. Aspen Gist also added nine digs and a pair of aces.
Alvarado also said that the Bearcats have been focusing on limiting their own errors, which she felt they did a good job of.
The Tigers, on the other hand, struggled in that area on Tuesday.
Between serve receive errors, hitting errors, and service errors, Centralia coach Marti Smith said that the Tigers committed 37 self-inflicted errors. As a team, the Tigers only logged 19 kills.
“That gives a good picture of what happened on our side,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, it's whoever makes the fewest mistakes, which is exactly what happened.”
Smith did commend Ryleigh Butler and Kendyl Guenther, saying Butler did a great job getting touches on the block and Guenther “blended” right along next to her.
“It was a good opportunity to see what she can bring for us,” Smith said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to generate more offense through her, cause she definitely did good things for us.”
Guenther finished with five kills and four blocks, and Butler tallied five kills. McKenna Smith finished with four blocks and three kills, and Makenzie Erickson added 17 digs to lead the defensive effort.
Kendall Guenther (sp) 5k, 4b, McKenna Smith 4b, 3k, Ryleigh Butler 5k, Makenzie Erickson 17d
Marti Smith also said that she knows that Tuesday’s performance was far from the Tigers’ best, and noted that they have better volleyball in their future.
“All we can do is try to learn what we can be better at and hopefully we can just give Tumwater our best run,” Marti Smith said.
The Tigers (4-5, 1-2 2A EvCo) will head to Tumwater on Thursday, and the Bearcats (4-6, 1-2 2A EvCo) will host Shelton at the same time.
