Eagles win Homecoming, Dig Pink night

LACROSSE - The St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse (SJEL) Eagles picked up two big wins last week as they are fighting to make the postseason.

The Eagles defeated the Colton Wildcats, 3-1, for Homecoming on Tuesday, Oct. 15, in St. John and beat the Dayton Bulldogs, 3-0, on Thursday, Oct. 17, in LaCrosse.

Against Colton, the set scores were 25-20, 25-19, 23-25 and 25-15.

Senior Kate Hergert led the attack with 11 kills, with fellow senior Avery Flemming adding eight. sophomore Sophie Anderson notched five aces with Hergert getting two blocks. Sophomore Catalina Torres had a team-high 14 digs with junior Chloe Waddell adding 12. Anderson paced the Eagles with 27 assists.

"Our seniors are very important," SJEL coach Jenn Johnson said. "Especially since they're two of my three captains and they just came off knee surgeries, so getting them comfortable on the court again and every day is an improvement."

The Eagles then held their annual Dig Pink breast cancer awareness volleyball match against Dayton on Thursday. With donations and raffle ticket sales, the LaCrosse ASB was able to give $501 to the Whitman County Paint the Town Pink fund.

Every player and coach on the SJEL team wore a shirt with a community or family member's name on it.

The match started with a kill by Dayton sophomore Alexa Jones. But the Eagles swiftly recovered with kills by Hergert, assisted by Anderson.

With set one tied at 7-7, Dayton sophomore Peyton Benavides smacked three aces in a row, but a kill by Fleming and an ace by junior Olivia Danielson tied the set at 10-10.

From there, the Eagles outpaced the Bulldogs for the remainder of the set with the final blow being a kill by Waddell to give the Eagles a 25-18 set win.

Set two started with an ace by Anderson. Kills by Fleming and an ace by Hergert gave the Eagles a commanding 8-2 lead. The Bulldogs were never able to recover and a block kill by Anderson gave the final point to the Eagles, winning set two, 25-12.

Two aces by Anderson and a block kill by Hergert helped give the Eagles a 6-2 lead to start set three. But the Bulldogs bit back with two aces by Dayton sophomore Lucy Trump and a block kill by Jones allowed Dayton to take a 7-6 lead.

Johnson called a timeout to stop the Bulldogs momentum.

"We had a nice little time out, had a group chat," Johnson said. "I told them, 'you guys know how to play and you know what you need to do to win this set. You have to control your side of the court.'"

Dayton went on to score the next three points before a kill by Hergert sparked the Eagles into action. SJEL fought back until the set was tied 12-12.

From there, the Eagles went on a five-point run with kills by Fleming and junior Vanessa Webb. The Bulldogs tried to come back but the Eagles wouldn't allow it. A kill by Fleming gave SJEL the set point, and an ace by Hergert finished the match with the Eagles winning set three, 25-19.

"Every match is important," Johnson said. "We're fighting for fourth and third right now, the league is really tight, and we're fighting every game to make the postseason."

Anderson and Hergert each had four aces in the match with Hergert getting nine kills and one block. Anderson had 27 assists in the match and Fleming also had nine kills. Torres and Danielson each had a team-high four digs on the night.

The Eagles went on to play the Asotin Panthers on Saturday, Oct. 19. The Panthers defeated the Eagles, 3-1, with set scores of 25-16, 22-25, 25-18 and 25-13.

Fleming led the Eagles with nine aces, with Hergert adding eight. Fleming and Anderson each had three aces and junior Lily Barlass notched two. Wadell and Anderson each had one block in the match and Anderson had 30 assists. Torres had a team-high 10 digs with Barlass and Waddell each getting nine.

SJEL will finish out the regular season with an away match against Pomeroy today, Thursday, Oct. 24, and a home match against Garfield-Palouse on Saturday, Oct. 26.

"We have to control our side of the court, that's what it comes down to," Johnson said. "I know they can, I know the talent is there. It's just putting all the working pieces together and working at the same time."