Cyclones Outlast Falcons In Season Opening Triangular

8/25/2017

Opening night of the volleyball season brought out plenty of first-game jitters Thursday as Clearwater-Orchard and Elkhorn Valley met in the first all-county matchup of the season.

It was a rough start for the Falcons at home as they went 0-2 in the triangular, falling to West Holt 25-22, 25-22 before watching the Cyclones rally for a three-set 19-25, 25-19, 25-18 win. West Holt swept the triangular with a 25-13, 25-22 win over OC.

Cyclones coach Sierra Summers admitted her team struggled early on, but she was pleased to see them finally shake off the jitters mid-way through the match against Elkhorn Valley.

"At first we were playing slow and weren't really doing the things we can do well," Summers said. "We kept talking about the things we can do to improve our game and really take it to them the way we knew how."

Both teams started with a slew of errors but began settling down for some rallys late in the first set. Elkhorn Valley's chemistry flowed first as the Falcons took the first set 25-19.

Summers said that's when she talked to her players about picking up their game.

"Starting in the second set, we talked about how to pick up intensity, how to pick up our communication and how to really work together as team," Summers said.

Both teams battled in the second set, which was hard to predict a winner until the Cyclones started to pull away. Once OC tasted the momentum swing, their front row looked unstoppable. Jocee Johnston finished with 12 kills and Brooklyn Chipps added two more. Johnston also had five blocks.

"We focused a lot on teamwork and how these girls can work as a team," she said. "Knowing these girls haven't worked together (long), I was really proud of the way they finished. There's lots of things we can do differently, but I'm really proud of the way they finished out."

Once the third set started, it was clearly the Cyclones game as the Falcons looked complacent on the court, much different than against West Holt where they were able to pick up dig after dig. Hannah Ollendick led the Falcons with eight kills in the match.

On the other side of the net, Clearwater-Orchard appeared confident that it would win the match and played with smiles even after making an error. Summers said she was proud of the way her young team was able to finish the match after taking the lead.

"That's really important to us," she said. "We're working on a whole new rotation. Last year we lost six seniors, so we have a lot of new kids that haven't really worked together a lot. We've been working in practice, so to see them come together is really nice."

Elkhorn Valley 25 19 18
Clearwater-Orchard 19 25 25
Elkhorn Valley: Karissa Evans 2k, 1d; Hannah Ollendick 8k, 2a, 8d; Sierra Rystrom 5k, 2a, 3d; Olivia Nall 3d; Kirstyn Evans 1a, 1d, 3sa; Bri Werner 1k, 3d; Jasmine Wiese 2a, 3d; Amber Miller 3a, 1b, 4d, 6sa.
Clearwater-Orchard: Avery Cheatum 1k, 1a, 4d, Allison Kerkman 1d, 1sa; Taylor Sanne 1a, Katie Stearns 2k, 4a, 3b, 2d, Julian Tuttle 1k, 1a, 16sa; Jocee Johnston 12k, 5b, Grace Rittscher 1a, 8d, Brooklyn Chipps 2k, 1b, 1sa.

Clearwater-Orchard 13 22
West Holt 25 25
Clearwater-Orchard: Avery Cheatum 4k, 2d; Allison Kerkman 1k, 1a, 2d, 1 sa; Katie Stearns 1d; Julian Tuttle 1a, 1d, 12 sa; Jocee Johnston 6k, 2a, 3b; Grace Rittscher 1k, 4d; Brooklyn Chipps 3k, 3b.

Elkhorn Valley 22 22
West Holt 25 25
Elkhorn Valley: Karissa Evans 2k, 4d; Hannah Ollendick 6k, 2a, 12d; Sierra Rystrom 5k, 2a, 8d; Kirstyn Evans 1k, 2d, 4sa; Bri Werner 11d; Jasmine Wiese 16d; Haley Fleetwood 1d, 1sa; Amber Miller 2k, 9d, 9sa.