The Littlefield Lady Cats and Olton Fillie varsity volleyball teams concluded play at the Littlefield tournament on Saturday with a three set thriller, which saw Littlefield take the match, 2-1; 25-18, 18-25, 15-10.
With the win, the Lady Cats improved to 5-2 overall, while the Fillies fall to 6-6 overall on the year.
A hit by Olton went outside of the pole, off of the serve from Madi Brown to begin set one, but Bryndle Ray was called for a double-hit on a set, tying the set, 1-1. The teams exchanged points until Cobi Saldana was called for touching the net, making the score 4-4.
Bri Valdez was called for a doublehit on her set and Cobi Saldana sent a hit out of bounds, pushing Olton’s lead to, 4-6, before a serve from Amie Beelitz landed out of bounds, trimming the lead to, 5-6. Monica Elizondo sent a hit into the net, but on the next play, a hit from Cobi Saldana was hit out of bounds by Analise Ramage, making the score, 6-7.
Littlefield would tie it up on the next play, Ramage sent a hit into the net to make the score, 7-7. Cali Saldana delivered a kill in front of Kaitlyn Avalos and Alyssa Torres followed it up with an ace off of Rebekka Lopez, pushing Littlefield’s lead to, 9-7. Cali Saldana dropped in a tip off of Taryn Smith for a kill and a kill attempt on the next play from Ramage landed out of bounds, making the score, 11-7, as Olton took a time out.
Out of the break, Olton was called for an illegal front row attack, but a tip from Maggie McNeese on the next play didn’t make it over the net and Kalajah Monroe followed it up with a tip for a kill that Brown couldn’t dig, trimming the lead to, 12-9. Ramage was called for touching the net for Olton and McNeese followed it up with a kill to make the score, 14-9.
Ramage fired back with a kill in the center of the court for Olton, but Monroe sent a hit into the net on the next play, making the score, 15-10. Avalos hit a ball backwards out of bounds off of a serve from Brown and Madi Williams delivered a kill off of Adriene Struve to push their lead to, 17-10. Back-to-back miscues by the Lady Cats sparked a three-point rally as Myli Hernandez was blocked by Beelitz and the ball was hit into the net by Tailyn Gomez, cutting the lead to, 17-13.
Olton couldn’t keep it going, as Beelitz sent a kill into the net and Struve followed it up with a hit that landed out of bounds to extend the Lady Cat lead to, 19-13. Olton sent a hit into the net, before Struve sent another hit sailing out of bounds, stretching the lead to, 21- 13. Hernandez sent a hit out of bounds on the sideline off of a long break from Beelitz, but Smith hit the ball into the net on the next play, making the score, 22-14.
Beelitz delivered a kill through the block attempt from Hernandez, but Beelitz’s next serve sailed out of bounds to make the score, 23-15. Ramage delivered a kill on the sideline for Olton, but on the following play, Struve was called for a double-hit making the score, 24-16. Torres’ serve sailed over the back boundary line for Littlefield and Valdez was called for a double-hit on the next play to trim the lead to, 24-18, but Cali Saldana closed out the set with a kill off of Denise Alvarado to make the score, 25-18, as Littlefield took set one.
Olton would not go down without a fight, taking a, 0-1, lead in set two after a hit from McNeese landed out of bounds on the sideline. Kambri Ruiz’s serve fell short of the net for the Fillies, but Hernandez was called for being on the net on the next play and Cali Saldana followed it up with a tip into the net to make the score, 1-3.
Williams delivered a kill off of a dig from Ruiz and a bad hit from Avalos landed out of bounds after Ruiz couldn’t save it, tying the set, 3-3. Cali Saldana’s next serve fell short of the net, but a hit from Ramage hit the foul pole on the next play to keep the set knotted up, 4-4. The teams went back and forth until Littlefield was called for four hits, tying the set, 7-7.
Cali Saldana sent a hit into the net for the Lady Cats and Alvarado delivered a kill at the net on the next play to make the score, 7-9. A kill attempt from McNeese landed out of bounds, but Alvarado was called for being on the net on the next play during a block attempt, trimming the lead to, 8-10.
A block from Beelitz fell in for a kill and Struve delivered a kill off of the block attempt from McNeese, pushing their lead to, 8-12. A tip from Williams was dug out by Ruiz, but the ball sailed into the foul pole for a Littlefield point, cutting the lead to, 9-12. Struve delivered a kill on the back line and Ray sent a hit into the net to push Olton’s lead back out to, 9-14.
Beelitz dropped a kill on the back line for Olton, but Beelitz and Smith sent back-to-back kill attempts sailing out of bounds to make the score, 11-15. Williams was called for touching the net, but the Lady Cats responded with a kill in the back corner of the court to trim the lead to, 12-16. Ray dropped a tip between Ruiz and Lopez for a kill, but Ramage answered with a kill off of Brown to push their lead back out to, 13-17.
Ramage delivered a tip off of Hernandez for a kill and followed it up with a kill in the back corner to stretch their lead to, 13- 19, as Littlefield took a time out to talk things over. Out of the break, Littlefield sent a hit into the net, and on the next play, Struve tipped the net for an ace, making the score, 1321.
Monroe touched the net on a block attempt, but the Fillies wasted no time recovering the serve, as Ramage tipped the net for a kill to make the score, 1422. Ramage kept it going with a block for a kill and Cali Saldana was called for a double-hit to push the lead to, 14-24. Alvarado was called for touching the net and Cali Saldana followed it up with a kill off of Ciara Zermeno to cut the lead to, 16-24.
Alvarado sent a hit into the net for Olton and Torres served up an ace in front of Zermeno, but Alvarado delivered a kill on the sideline, as Olton took set two, 18-25, to even the match, 1-1.
Littlefield jumped out to a, 5-0, lead in set three, before Williams was called for a double-hit on her set, making the score, 5-1. Alvarado sent a serve short of the net and Beelitz sent a kill sailing out of bounds, before Hernandez delivered a tip off of Beelitz’s block attempt for a kill to make the score, 81.
The teams exchanged points and a long hit from Beelitz was killed at the net by Hernandez to push the lead to, 9-3. Littlefield went on a four-point scoring run, before Cobi Saldana was called for going across the net, making the score, 13-4. A tip from Hernandez hit the foul pole and Ramage delivered a kill off of the block attempt from ray to make the score, 13-6.
Struve delivered an ace off of Cali Saldana to make the score, 13-7, as Littlefield took a time out to talk things over. Out of the break, Struve served up an ace off of Cali Saldana and on the next play, Hernandez was called for being on the net, trimming the lead to, 13-9. Hernandez dropped in a tip for a kill to end the scoring drought for Littlefield, pushing their lead to, 14-9, but a kill attempt from Cali Saldana landed out of bounds, trimming the lead to, 14-10.
A hit from McNeese was dug out by Monroe and hit into the net by Smith, as Littlefield took set three, 15-10, and the match 2-1.