Tonasket junior Brooke Ray jumps up to hit the ball over the net during Tonasket’s home game against Omak on Tuesday, Sept. 29. Also shown are junior Jessica Rhoads (#11), sophomore Amber Kilpatrick (#3) and sophomore Taylor Ayers (#2).Photo by Emily Ha
TONASKET – After two home games in their fourth week of play, the Tonasket volleyball team is still winless in the Caribou Trail League.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Tigers won the first set against the Omak Pioneers 25-19, but then lost the match after three sets of 25-20, 25-19 and 25-22. Senior Maribella Alvarez served 16 of 19 with three aces, senior April Webber served 16 of 18 with four kills, sophomore Taylor Ayers served 14 of 15 with three aces and junior Jessica Rhoads served eight of 11 with six kills.
“This was a close match with great competition,” Nellie Kirk, head coach, said. “The Tonasket girls worked hard. They played well together. We had too many missed serves and too many unforced errors. The Tonasket girls have made improvements every match and they will continue to improve.”
Junior Brooke Ray said the team needs to learn to have confidence in each other. She added that this was the closest match the Tigers have had since they played Lake Roosevelt.
“I think we’ve improved on some things individually and we can keep improving but we need to improve as a team,” Ray said.
On Thursday, Oct. 1, the Tigers lost in three sets of 25-10, 25-18 and 25-8 to Cashmere. Ayers served 10 of 10 with two aces and two kills, Ray served five of six, Alvarez served four of four and Webber served four of four with six kills.
“This was a very busy week for us,” Kirk said. “We had two home matches and homecoming all week. The volleyball girls seem to be very active in all of the activities and they still had to play volleyball. I believe we could have played better. The girls were just not on their game.”
As of press time, the Tigers (0-7) had not yet played Cascade at home on Tuesday, Oct. 6. They next play away against Brewster on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.
