The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PILOT ROCK - The WP volleyball team changed course midstream during Friday night's game against Pilot Rock, pushing ahead to win their first game of the season. The Rockets won the first two sets, 20-25 and 14-25, against the relative­ly inexperienced Cardinal team, which struggled with rotations.

"We got off to a slow start because there was a lot of confusion about rotations and where the girls needed to be on defense," said Coach Angie Potts. "That led to a poor physical performance as well. In the first set we made a short scoring run be­hind the serving of Samantha Fedderson but with the girls out of position on defense we weren't able to back up her good serving."

The Lady Cards re­grouped in the third set to win with a score of 25-21. Confidence restored, and more secure in their posi­tions, they went on to win the final two sets, 25-22 and 15-6, gaining victory in their first game of the season. "Once the girls knew where they needed to be on the floor the confusion was greatly reduced and they were able to focus on what they needed to do physically," said Potts.

WP hitters performed well off setter Jaidyn Brown who provided 20 assists. Sa­mantha Fedderson and Paige Wood scored ten kills each and Enidena Fuentes scored five. Serves were aggressive with 34 aces over the course of the night. Brown led with 12 aces, Fedderson followed with ten and Caitlin Jones scored four. Fedderson had 13 digs; Wood, 10; Fuentes, six; and Mohney, five.

Potts said that while Pilot Rock was scrappy and did a good job of keeping the ball in play, they also took advantage of the WP defense being out of position and finding open holes on the floor. "Once our girls got more confident with their ro­tations and got in position on defense Pilot Rock had more trouble finding the holes. Offensively, our hitting and blocking was stronger than Pilot Rocks," said Potts.

"I'm most pleased with the fact that the girls didn't quit," said Potts. They showed a lot of heart as they fought back to win the last three sets and came from be­hind in the 4th set after being down 3-8.

"We have a lot of young players who are being asked to step up to varsity level before they may be ready. With that youth comes a pretty steep learning curve that goes beyond the physi­cal fundamentals."

Potts plans to continue working on defensive posi­tioning, footwork and ball control. She's hoping that and the team's "never-say- die" attitude will secure a second win in the upcoming Sept. 13 SunDome Volley­ball Festival in Yakima.