The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

RICHLAND - The Waits­burg Prescott Cardinals won their second match in a row Tuesday night against Tri-Cities Prep to improve their league record to 2-3 go­ing

into Wednesday's game against the tough Liberty Christian Patriots at home.

On Thursday, the Cardi­nals beat DeSales in three games 25-13, 26-24 and 25-12. Tuesday night, WP beat TCP 25-21, 25-17 and 25-15, a game that saw many subs in warm-up to Wednesday's key game against LC.

"We came out really strong, ready to play," head coach Jesse Buehler said about the match against De­Sales last week. After an easy win the first game, the Cardinals ran into the Irish fighting spirit and, at one point, fell behind eight points only to battle back and take the game into extra points. "It was a big win," she said. "We stayed calm under it. We showed up ready, we played ready, and we finished ready." It was almost as though the WP team, finding its rhythm with the season well under way, wanted the challenge of the tough DeSales home crowd to rise to the occasion. "Everything clicked," Buehler said. "We needed that win." The games weren't nearly as close in the match against TCP, which Buehler used to play her entire bench in prep­aration for Liberty Christian.

"We could have domi­nated more with more kills," she said, "but we needed ev­eryone

warmed up. I made all 18 subs in one game, and that doesn't happen very often."

Whereas the Cardinals didn't perform well at TCP last year, this year they faced a younger, smaller team. WP found strength in middle court with Ronnie Hulce coming out of her shell at the net.

WP vs DeSales

25-13, 26-24, 25-12

Genesis Pearson: 14 kills, 8 digs and 4 blocks

Ronnie Hulce: 6 kills

Megan Withers: 5 kills

Kayla Huxoll: 22 assists

Iris Batalla: 7 digs and 24/24 serving with 1 ace.

WP vs TCP

25-21, 25-17, 25-15

Ronnie Hulce: 9 kills

Genesis Pearson: 9 kills

Megan Withers: 4 kills

Kayla Huxoll: 19 assists