They had a battle at the Silverdale Center Tuesday night.
It was a volleyball battle between region foes Silverdale and Boyd Buchanan and it went five sets before the Lady Buccaneers headed home with a hard-fought win.
Silverdale won the first set by a score of 25-16 before the Lady Bucs evened the score with a 25-21 win in set two. The Lady Seahawks then got the upper hand again with a 25-23 win in the third set before the Lady Bucs won the final two sets and the match by scores of 25-18 and 15-8.
Boyd Buchanan coach Shanda Kirk had a big smile on her face after this match ended as she was really happy and proud of the way her team battled on the road.
“These girls all have a lot of heart and they gave everything they had today,” Kirk began after her team improved to 8-4 overall and 2-0 in region play.
“We just wanted to come over here and have some fun and that’s what we did, but we got exactly the kind of match we were expecting as it’s always a close match when these two teams play. Communication and the willingness to trust each other was the key and it was fun to watch.
“We seem to push each other to be the best we can be, but it’s become a really good rivalry in recent years and we were fortunate enough to come out on top,” Kirk added.
A kill from Allison Schaeffer gave the Lady Seahawks the opening point before Caitlyn Kruse recorded three straight kills to give the Lady Bucs a 3-1 lead. A kill from Silverdale’s Faith Woods put the Lady Seahawks up 4-3 and the home team didn’t trail again in that opening set. A kill from Sophie Easterday was set point for Silverdale.
The Lady Seahawks had a 2-1 lead in the second set before the Lady Bucs scored five straight points for a 6-2 lead and it never got much closer. Kelsie Johnson had a block and two kills to get the Lady Seahawks close at 24-21 before a kill by Boyd’s Kruse evened the match at one set apiece.
The third set was by far the best of the match.
A kill by Sarah Durham and an ace by Durham gave the Lady Bucs a 2-0 lead. The difference was 3-1 before Silverdale scored five of the next six points for a 6-4 lead. A kill by Boyd’s Eden Mathis knotted the score at 18-18, but the Lady Seahawks refused to fold and pulled out the two-point win a minute later following an ace by Isabella Cofer.
The fourth set was relatively close too as the score was tied nine times, the last at 15-15 before the Lady Bucs took control by scoring 10 of the last 13 points to even the score at two sets apiece.
Momentum had clearly switched to Boyd’s side following that fourth set and you could tell that the Lady Bucs were having fun as assistant coach Bailey Winel danced a little jig between sets to help her girls relax and bring smiles to their faces.
Silverdale had played on even terms with the Lady Bucs up to that point, but the train jumped off track in that fifth set as the Lady Seahawks were pressing and ended up losing the match with at least nine unforced errors, the last one giving the match to the Lady Buccaneers.
Silverdale, now 2-6 overall and 1-2 in region play, returns to action on Thursday with a road trip to Collegedale Academy while the Lady Bucs will be at home on Thursday to entertain Grace Academy.
Silverdale coach Geri Gearrin spent an excessively long time in the Lady Seahawk dressing room following the match and did not make herself available for a comment.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)