Earlville volleyball coach Tonya Scherer said she had one main goal for her team in Tuesday’s Little Ten Conference home match against rival Leland.

“We had played them twice already this season, including Saturday (in the consolation championship) at the Little Ten Tournament and both went three sets,“ Scherer said. ”The goal tonight was to win in two.”

The Red Raiders (16-12, 3-3) started the night strong, getting a nine-point service run by Jacey Helgesen and carried the momentum to a 25-15, 25-23 victory over the Panthers (9-12, 3-4).

“We started off really strong, didn’t finish out the first set like I would have liked but finished it,” Scherer said. “Then in the second set we just had way too many unforced errors until about midway through. We were able to clean that up to get back even and then take the lead. Getting things turned around and getting back on track in those situations is something we’ve struggled with this season, so it was good to see that happen tonight.”

Helgesen’s hot serving start included five straight aces and six overall. Earlville then used five kills from senior Bailey Miller to build the lead to 24-9. Leland closed to within nine on a side-out kill by Ava Winckler and a five-point spurt by Avary Ohme, but a kill by Kiley Franzese closed out the set.

“Jacey really got us off to a great start with her serving,“ Miller said. ”Her start really got all of us into it right away. I feel like we have a bunch of girls on this team that really want to play well and win for each other.

“We struggled a little bit, way too many errors, at the end of the first set and for most of the second set, but we found ways to get points when we needed.”

The teams traded points for much of the second set. Leland held a 15-14 lead before the hosts took the lead for good on a block by Audrey Scherer, a Panthers’ hitting error and a kill by Miller. The Panthers closed to within 20-19, but a kill and block by Jessica Miller and an ace by Payton Actis preceded a match-point kill by Audrey Scherer.

“We are in a ditch right now,” said Leland coach Alyx Bickel, her squad falling for the seventh consecutive match. “At the beginning of the season we were playing pretty well, then we lost to Newark and Serena back-to-back and ever since then we have just lacked confidence and I’m not sure why.

“This is mainly a senior group, and they have lost their confidence in their abilities. When we have a tough couple of points, we just have not been able to let it go and move on. These girls have the talent to be a really good team and win matches like tonight, but until they realize it too, we are going to struggle. We just need to get the killer instinct back.”

Leland was led by seven kills from Winckler and three kills from Izzy Podnar. Macey Kinney and Tinley Wold each had an ace.

Helgesen finished with 13 points, seven aces and 11 digs for Earlville, with Bailey Miller posting eight kills and Actis eight assists.

“Bailey was really good tonight,” Coach Scherer said. “She came up as a freshman and played a little varsity, but she has really worked on being the player she is now.

“Along with her hitting, she’s just an all-around good volleyball player and she showed that tonight.”

Both teams are back in action in LTC matches on Thursday with Leland hosting DePue and Earlville traveling to LaMoille.