The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG - The abundance of school spir­it on display at Thursday night's volleyball match at home against DeSales wasn't quite enough to push the Lady Cards on to a win, though they came close. WP lost to the Irish in a well- fought five-set match.

The outlook was prom­ising in set one, with WP taking the lead early on and maintaining it to win by eight, with a score of 25-17. DeSales took advantage of missed serves from WP in set two, winning with a score of 25-22.

In set three it was DeSales who missed serves and sent spikes out of bounds. A final serve by Paige Wood, a quick return by DeSales, and an explosive spike from Samantha Fedderson won the set for Waitsburg with a score of 25-19.

The back-and-forth game was characterized by long volleys as the Cards and Irish struggled to take con­trol of set four. Enedina Fuentes and Analise Salazar fought hard to return play, making 18 digs each and Jaidyn Brown set up 22 as­sists throughout the game. Freshman Caitlyn Mohney held her own making 12 digs and seven aces over the night. With a score of 7 to 7 midway through the set, the Cards finally fell to the Irish by a score of 25-19.

DeSales took the lead early on in game five, lead­ing with a score of 5-0 before the Cards began to fight back and brought the score to a nail-biting 11-12 (Irish favor). The Irish nabbed the final points to win the match 15-11.

"Overall, I thought we played much better as a team and did a better job of work­ing together on the court," said WP Coach Angie Potts. "Our biggest mistake was letting the intensity of the fifth set get to us early, be­fore settling down and fight­ing back."

Stat leaders for the night were: Jaidyn Brown, 22 as­sists, 3 aces; Samantha Fed­derson 14 kills, 14 digs, 4 blocks, 7 aces; Paige Wood, 8 kills, 12 digs, 5 aces; En­edina Fuentes, 18 digs, 3 aces; Caitlyn Mohney, 12 digs, 7 aces; Analise Salazar, 18 digs, 4 aces.