Colfax Bulldogs slay the Dragons

COLFAX - Heading into the 2B District 6 volleyball tournament as a No. 4 seed, the Colfax Bulldogs defeated No. 5 St. George's Dragons, 3-0, on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Set scores were 25-13, 25-9 and 25-15.

Colfax took an early 3-0 lead in the first set with a block kill by senior Ava Swan and another kill by Swan, assisted by fellow senior Brenna Gilchrist. St. George's closed the gap at 3-2, but two more kills by Swan maintained the pace of the set.

Colfax soon ran up the score with aces by junior Cianna Gibb and sophomore Avery Andrus with kills by Swan and junior Ruby Simmons. Colfax took set one with the 25-13 win.

"We served tough and our defensive movement for the most part was pretty good, covering different areas," said Colfax coach Megan Dorman. "Our hitters kept it in play, had some really nice shots, so hitting overall was good."

Set two began with an ace by Gibb and a block kill by swan. Another Gibb ace gave Colfax a 6-0 lead before the Dragons could gain a single point. Utilizing the dynamic duo of Gilchrist setting and Swan killing, the Bulldogs took set two, 25-9, and led the match, 2-0.

The Dragons kept pace with the Bulldogs in the first half of set three. Whenever a team would gain a one-point advantage, the other team would tie the score on the next play. With the score tied, 12-12, Colfax went on a 10-point run with kills by Swan and Simmons and an ace by Swan.

"Up to that point we were pretty quiet," Dorman said. "We kind of got lackadaisical like we do sometimes in the third sets, especially after we win the first two. So, we're just moving toward making sure we focus more on the next rally."

The Bulldogs ran the court for the remainder and won set three, 25-15, and the match, 3-0.

Swan had 15 kills and a block with Gibb getting 15 assists and 10 digs. Gibb and sophomore Avery Andrus led the Bulldogs with three aces each.

Next up for the Bulldogs was to take on the No. 1 seeded Davenport Gorillas (record of 13-3) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Davenport

"I think we're going to have to serve tough," Dorman said. "We're going to have to hit some shots, our hitters are going to have to get a little better at placing shots. Then just play defense. If we work together I think we'll do some good things."

Colfax took the top-seeded team to five sets, winning the first two but eventually fell to the Gorillas, 3-2.

Set scores were 18-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-9.

The Bulldogs went on to play the Reardan Eagles at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Colfax defeated Reardan, 3-1. Set scores were unavailable at press time.

Next up, the Bulldogs will face Lind-Ritzville-Sprague at 5 p.m. today, Thursday, Nov. 7, in Cheney in loser-out action. If the Bulldogs win, they move on to State.