Eureka netters knock off Bigfork
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Eureka senior Carli Allen (10) blocks a shot by Valkyries sophomore Kayla Casalegno (12) Thursday night during Bigfork's loss to Eureka at Bigfork High School. Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012 in Bigfork, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Valkeries sophomore returns a serve Thursday night during Bigfork's loss to Eureka at Bigfork High School. Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012 in Bigfork, Montana.</p>
BIGFORK — Eureka’s senior-laden volleyball team opened its conference schedule with a straight-sets victory, downing Bigfork 25-10, 25-22, 25-19 on Thursday.
The Lions started six seniors and had four more on the bench, giving coach Shauna Baker a deep rotation of veteran players that have hit the ground running this season.
“We just had to pick up where we left off last year,” Baker said.
“All the fundamentals are out of the way so we can work on more tactical stuff.”
With a plethora of offensive options, Eureka setters Alyssa White and Mikayla Grove passed to middle hitter Jenna Peterson, who tallied a team-high seven kills, and a number of outside hitters as they worked the ball away from Bigfork’s blockers.
“We use different hitters, different spots, everyone on this team is a good hitter,” said White, who led the Lions with 15 assists and added four kills when she rotated to outside hitter.
“It’s just like eighth grade again. We’ve played with each other forever.”
While Eureka (1-0 District 7-B) was fine-tuning an already greased up machine, Bigfork (0-1 District 7-B) was searching for momentum. With no seniors and just two players returning significant varsity experience, the Valkyries struggled to defend Eureka’s versatile attack.
“We’re such a young team right now so they’re figuring out how to gel,” Bigfork coach Tracy Wicklund said.
“They can be competitive, but we’ve got to keep our energy up.”
White opened the match serving three-straight points and Eureka coasted to a 25-10 win with Peterson, Nicole Short and Cassidy Morgan all contributing kills. Grove served an ace to finish off the set.
The Lions carried that momentum into the second set by winning six of the first seven points, but a combination of service errors and passing mistakes allowed Bigfork to make a run later in the set.
Trailing 20-12, Bigfork won nine of the next 11 to cut its deficit to one point. Outside hitter Alanis Stallknecht punctuated the run with a kill, but Bigfork relinquished its momentum by losing three of the next four points to give Eureka a two-set lead.
The Lions raced out to a 5-0 lead in the third set before a Tessa Robertson kill put Bigfork on the board. Short answered with a kill to start a four-point Eureka run and the Lions led by at least four the rest of the way.
“This group of girls, they play really well together,” Baker said. “They’ve been together for a long time. Despite our errors, I think we have cleaned up our game quite a bit.”
Eureka hosts Mission Saturday while Bigfork hosts Florence.
Eureka: Kills — 23 (Jenna Peterson 7). Aces — 23 (Alyssa White 6). Blocks — 2 (Peterson 2). Assists — 19 (White 15). Digs — 60 (Alex Holland 19).
Bigfork: Kills — 10 (Tessa Robertson 5). Aces — not available. Blocks — 6 (Lana Berg 2). Assists — 4 (Brittany Schnell 3). Digs — 17 (Marissa Hiza 6).