Bulldogs tangle with Lions, get bit by Greyhounds

COLFAX - The Colfax Bulldogs won a home match against Upper Columbia Academy, 3-0, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, before falling to the Pullman Greyhounds in a five-set thriller on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Against Upper Columbia Academy, senior middle hitter Ava Swan led the team with 16 kills, 16 digs and two blocks. Junior setter Cianna Gibb had 18 assists and junior outside hitter Ruby Simmons had five aces.

"We did a good job of mixing it up," Colfax coach Megan Dorman said. "Setters did really well at filling in a back set or outside, but Ava in the middle did really well mixing up her locations."

Colfax won the first set, 25-21. In set two, the Bulldogs took a quick 11-1 lead, but the Lions regrouped and brought the score to 11-7. Colfax bounced back and continued to keep the lead until the end of the set. The Bulldogs won set two, 25-19.

"Being inexperienced, they are meshing pretty well as far as personalities, so it's been a fun group to coach," Dorman said. "They are very supportive of one another, they are encouraging and just having that on the court has allowed them to be able to make good choices."

The beginning of set three was more of a battle. The teams went back and forth until the score was tied, 5-5. Colfax then went on a five-point run, but Upper Columbia Academy came back and tied the score again, 11-11.

With more back and forth, the score became tied again, this time 15-15. Colfax turned up the heat and went on to win the set, 25-20, and the match, 3-0.

"At points we gave up screens and our inexperience showed," Dorman said. "We only have two starters returning from last year, and really only those two had significant minutes last year. We have two new setters, so we're just now starting to figure things out and put things together."

Colfax went on to play Pullman in an intense five-set matchup. The Bulldogs won the first two sets, 26-24 and 25-19, but ultimately fell in the next three sets, 25-18, 25-14 and 15-6.

Pullman had a 24-20 lead in the first set, and would win it if the Greyhounds scored just one more point, but Colfax sophomore Avery Andrus helped the Bulldogs get the six points in a row needed to win set one.

Swan again led the Bulldogs with kills (17) and digs (16). Gibb had 12 assists and Andrus had five aces.

Next up, the Bulldogs went on to play an away match against Ferris at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, after press time. Colfax will next play its Homecoming match against Goldendale at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21.