PHS knocks off RLS in volleyball rivalry

Published 12:36 am Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Pleasant Home Lady Eagles broke out to a seven-point lead in the tiebreaking game on the way to finishing up a 3-2 victory in a volleyball match over county rival Red Level on Tuesday afternoon at Red Level.

After splitting the first four games, the teams entered the tiebreaker and Pleasant Home jumped out to a 10-3 lead. Red Level came back to cut the Lady Eagles’ lead to 11-9, but Pleasant Home managed to hang on for a 15-12 win in the tiebreaking game.

“It was two evenly matched teams tonight,” said Pleasant Home coach Jerry Davis, whose team is only in its second year of having a varsity program. “I think both teams served the ball well. I’m proud of my girls; we’ll take any win we can considering we’re just getting this program started.”

The first four games were mostly lopsided. Pleasant Home (1-1) took the match by the score of 25-7, 13-25, 25-9, 20-25, 15-12.

“It was definitely a weird match,” Davis said. “We’d win one big, then they’d come back and beat us really bad. That tiebreaker was really the only game where it came down to the wire.”

Red Level coach Heather Walden said she had two starters out battling the flu, and was proud of her reserves that stepped in to play.

“Those girls really played well for us tonight,” she said. “It’s hard to come off the bench and be asked to play. We’ve got some things to work on, for our next match.”

Ariel Hyde led the Lady Tigers (1-1) with five set assists, and Ashley Wright led with three aces, 16 serves and six spikes. Brittany Scott had 15 serves and Desirea Crain finished with three spikes.

Red Level does not play again until next Mon., Sept. 1, at Luverne at 4 p.m. Pleasant Home will host T.R. Miller on Thursday at 4 p.m.