The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – The WHS volleyball team hosted its annual Waitsburg Invitational tournament Saturday, and the Lady Cardinals had an outstanding day, placing second. They won their first four matches, before dropping the championship match to Irrigon.

In pool play, Waitsburg beat DeSales, 25-10, 25-17; Touchet, 25-23, 25-22; and Irrigon 14-25, 25-13, 15-7.

In the Championship bracket, the Lady Cardinals took on College Place in the semi-finals, beating them 25-23, 25-11. In the finals, a rematch with Irrigon, Waitsburg fell, 19-25, 18-25.

"The girls had an outstanding day finishing 4-1," said Waitsburg coach Angie Potts. "They were disappointed to lose the championship match after having already beat Irrigon earlier in pool play, but regardless, the second place finish is the best we've done in a long time.

"Their attitudes, teamwork, and work ethic were just amazing all day," Potts added. "We brought Kirsten Miller up from JV for the tournament because we were short-handed and she did a great job when asked to go in."

Tournament Stats:  Kelsey Alleman 9 aces, 13 digs; Tayler Jones 8 aces, 9 kills, 15 digs; Chloe Pearson 13 kills, 19 digs; Jade Alleman 3 blocks, 9 aces, 10 kills, 20 digs; Analisea Araya 5 blocks, 4 kills; Ariel Sandau 7 aces, 25 assists, 15 kills, 18 digs; Taylor Hays 7 aces, 6 kills, 31 digs.

Waitsburg Falls to Riverside

WAITSBURG – Waitsburg hosted Riverside on Sept. 8, in their first match of the season. The Lady Cardinals fell in three sets, 25-20, 25-19, 25-23.

"For our first match, we played pretty well," Coach Angie Potts said. "We had too many serving errors and that's an easy fix. We still have some things to work on in order to get where we need to be by the end of the season but this was a good start against a comparable team.

Game Stats: Ariel Sandau 6 aces, 11 assists, 6 kills, 6 digs; Devon Harshman 2 aces, 8 kills; Jade Alleman 3 kills, 4 digs; Tayler Jones 3 kills, 4 digs.