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The Bureau Valley volleyball team came to Hall and came away with a hard-fought 22-25, 25-14, 25-19 victory in a Three Rivers Conference East Division match Tuesday in Spring Valley.
“I was happy with our play,” BV coach Caitlyn DeMay said. “There were a lot of really good rallies and we are finishing them now and that is a big step in the right direction. Playing here was good for us. They have a great student section and the atmosphere was awesome and the experience will help us as we move into the regional.”
Game one saw the teams exchanging points early with Bureau Valley’s Katie Salisbury leading the way with a big block, a kill and a couple aces; but the Red Devils answered with some fine net work out of Kierra Wozniak, who had a couple kills to keep the match tight.
Hall pulled away on the service of Taylor Coutts as she delivered three straight points.
But the Storm rallied as Neveah Kerber hammered home a couple spikes and the score leveled at 18-18.
It stayed close until Hall’s Molly Dalzot floated the ball perfectly into the heart of the Storm defense and Katelyn Pullum served a pair of points, the final on a tomahawk spike by Wozniak to end game one.
In Game two, the Storm used the strong serves of Emma Stabler and Lexie Marquez and a pair of kills from Ashley Nordstrom to build a 6-1 advantage, and BV never looked back.
Hall made a run and tried to get back in it on a block from Clair Jablonski, but soon after the Storm returned the favor on a block by Olivia Davis and cruised to a 25-14 victory with Nordstrom and Neveah Aber and Mallory Endress all kicking in a pair of kills.
The rubber match started out as a sea-saw affair as each team was able to foil the other’s serve before Bureau Valley got a pair of kills from Endress to take a slim 6-4 lead.
But Hall’s Wozniak was not going to go down easy as she exchanged kills with the Storm in each of the next three rallies, and the game stayed close at 9-9.
Bureau Valley got a pair of kills from Aber and attempted to inch away, but Hall’s Dalzot fired a missile into the Storm defense to keep things tight.
That’s when Hall’s Kali Vassos used a stuff block and kill to even the game at 12-12.
The Storm got some breathing room on the service of Endress for a 19-16 lead.
Bureau Valley rode an ace from Salisbury to nail down game three.
“We came out with good energy and played well in the first game and got a win, then we came out flat in the second and got away from running our plays,” Hall coach Darcy Earley said. “Once we got back to running them in the final game, we played much better and played them tough. A lot of those rallies could have went either way, but Bureau Valley is well coached and you have to play well to beat them.”