For a majority of Centralia’s 2A EvCo match against Aberdeen on Tuesday, one could argue that the Tigers were the better team.
They led late in each of the first four sets, but unforced errors proved costly, as they let the first two slip away before falling in the fifth to lose 25-23, 25-22, 19-25, 14-25, 15-11.
In those first two sets, which the Tigers (5-3, 3-3 2A EvCo) led 22-17 and 21-19, they had a combined 29 unforced errors.
“Those are killers,” Centralia coach Marti Smith said. “That was nothing Aberdeen did to us, we did (it) to ourselves in those first two sets.”
Down 2-0, the Tigers responded well, jumping out to another early lead to shift the pressure to Aberdeen (7-2, 4-2 2A EvCo).
More importantly, in the following sets, they limited the self-inflicted errors that doomed them in the first two, allowing them to roar back and eventually force a fifth set.
“We controlled that part of the game and lessened our unforced errors,” Smith said. “We kept putting the ball back on their side to make them have to make the errors, and it definitely showed.”
While the Tigers had all of the momentum, it was the Bobcats who flipped the script and got out to a big early lead in the fifth and final set, scoring the first four points and then six of the next eight to take a 10-2 lead.
The Tigers continued to battle, getting within three at one point later in the set, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
“When you’re only going to 15, you can’t get in a hole,” Smith said. “You make it really difficult on yourselves to pull that set out. I was proud of their fight, though.”
While it wasn’t as prevalent of an issue as the earlier sets, the Tigers had four unforced errors in the deciding set. They also sent over multiple freeballs, which Smith said made things easy for the Bobcats.
While it was a frustrating loss, Smith is confident that the mistakes made on Tuesday are fixable, and she is confident that matches like that will not become the norm.
“I have full confidence that they’re gonna make the adjustments,” Smith said. “If we can control what we can … we’re always gonna be in the match. When we start getting down to crunch time towards the end of the season, they’re gonna know how to handle themselves in these situations better.”
Lauren Wasson had an excellent all-around day for the Tigers, going a perfect 18 for 18 from the service line while also racking up 16 digs and 15 kills. Mckenna Smith also posted a double-double, tallying 28 assists and 17 digs.
Mikaela Marazita had nine kills while Peyton Baumel added seven, and Gracie Schofield recorded 14 digs while Heaven Jacobson had 10.
The Tigers next test will be a tough one, as they’ll head north to take on 8-1 Tumwater on Thursday.
