Lady Warriors get rematch with Alex
WF finishes another successful season
Westfall played the defending state runner-up Spartans tough early in game one; however, Alexander's tough serving made it difficult for WF to run any sort of consistent attack.
With WF leading 6-4 in the opening set, Alexander scored the next six points and 12 of the next 15 to break things open. While Westfall struggled to start their offense, Alexander had a great attack out of the middle. Betsy Irwin and Megan McCoy had a hand in nine of those 12 points as Alex captured game one.
Game two and threee was more of the same as Alexander finished the match to advance to Saturday's final against Adena. This game will mark Alexander's third straight SVC opponent as they beat Huntington last Saturday, Westfall tonight, and now will face Adena in the finals.
The loss marked the end of the road for Westfall seniors Suzy Gantz and Nicole Ratcliff. After these two played on some incredible teams early in their careers, this duo stepped to the front to lead Westfall to back-to-back district titles in their final two seasons. Gantz recorded four kills, two blocks, and seven digs in her final game while Ratcliff had three digs and an ace. The Lady Mustangs end 2008 at 15-11.
Game one was all Adena. The serving of Megan Purdin and a pair of blocks from Allison Morgan led an Adena attack that produced seven of nine points to stretch an 8-5 advantage to a demanding 15-7 lead. Adena rolled from there and seemed to be in complete control; however, game two took a different turn. With Tusky needing a spark, Sarah Brown provided one in a big way. Usually known for her thunderous kills at the net, Brown actually took over with her serve. With Adena up 16-15, Brown recorded four straight jump-serve aces to give Tusky a 19-16 advantage - an advantage that led the Trojans to a second game win.
The big play in game three came quite early. With Tusky out to an early 3-1 lead, Brown headed back to serve again. This time, Purdin made a great pass to start a long volley that eventually ended in an Ashley Jordan kill. This made the score 3-2, but more importantly, kept Brown in the back row and allowed Adena to start a run in which they scored eight of the next nine points to roll to the win and a two games to one avantage in the match.
Adena was unable to close the deal in game four, and again, it was the jump serve of Brown that turned a 17-17 tie into a 21-17 lead. Adena did sideout on a Jordan block; however, Tusky answered and scored the game's final four points to win the game and force a fifth and final set.
Game five was tied at 5, 7, 9, and 10, but Adena scored the final five points to escape and advance to the elite eight.
In the win, Jordan was outstanding with 26 kills. Setter Cadie Cory was incredible as well. She did make an occassional freshman mistake Thursday night, but when the usually solid passing game of the Warriors started to breakdown, Cory made some great plays to allow Jordan and the other hitters to still get some swings. Cory ended the night with 44 assists. Kirsti Yates also added 11 kills and 13 digs.
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26 kills, 4 blocks
CADIE CORY
44 assists
