Raiders top Tigers in three sets
Oct. 6—LEBANON — The Lebanon volleyball team faced a tough test from visiting Harrison on Wednesday night at Rosenstihl Gymnasium.
The Raiders height across the front-line proved to be too much for the Tigers, and the visitors came away with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-12) win.
"We have to control our controllables," Lebanon head coach Emily Vanatsky said. "We kind of let our energy die and we got a little bit lazy on serve receive and they have great hitters that will terminate those balls. We have to make sure we keep those balls in front of us."
After dropping the first set, the Tigers played better in the second.
They led 14-13 on an ace from Alli Albea, and were still right in the set down 18-16.
Harrison closed the set well however, winning seven of the final nine points.
Lebanon couldn't regroup in the third, falling behind 9-1 and not being able to claw their way back in it.
"We were ready to fight for it in the second set," Vanatsky said. "It was a special night (Breast Cancer Awareness Night) and we really wanted to win it. We came out guns firing from the beginning, we just got a little sloppy at the end."
The Tigers raised more than $2,700 on Wednesday for the Boone County Cancer Society.
Grace Braner led the Tigers with eight kills in the match. Albea had four and Emerson Shepherd had three.
Audrey Butler led the team with nine assists.
The Tigers host Lafayette Jeff on Thursday on senior night.
Vanatsky said she likes facing some 4A opponents heading into the sectional.
"Obviously it was a tough loss tonight, but I saw a lot of good things we have been working on," Vanatsky said. "We are making sure we don't let balls drop and we are making sure we are playing off our blocker defense. Our back row has been playing phenomenal defense. Obviously there are things we want to clean up, but playing these teams show us some of the holes to clean things up."
Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.
