Head coach Vanessa Nidiffer and her Bruin girls varsity volleyball team hosted the Douglas Lady Trojans Thursday evening in their second match-up of the regular season and their first contest at home.
The Lady Trojans traveled to Brookings for their opening match-up of their season, and showed up at Bruin arena ready to play, jumping out to an early lead in the first set. The Bruin girls would battle back to keep the set close, but ultimately Douglas would take the set 17-25.
In the second set, the Bruin girls established a power game at the net led by senior Ashlyn Schofield, #8, who pounded shots into the Douglas back court leading the Bruin girls to an early lead in the second set. Douglas would put together some points in the set and close the points gap, but the Bruin girls would go on to win the second set by 8 points, 25-17.
Now with both teams having set wins, control for the second set was close fought as the Lady Trojans were determined to regain control of the net, but the already established Bruin girls kept it close early. Unforced errors by the Bruin girls in the set allowed Douglas to establish a lead and take an 11-25 win in the third set.
The Bruin girls needed the fourth set to force a fifth decisive set, and with Douglas looking to close out the match, the fourth set was close through out, tied early at 9-9 and again at 15-15. The Lady Trojans managed a 3 point lead late, and would maintain that advantage all the way to a 22-25 fourth set victory, and the match win, 1-3.
“The team gave a good effort this evening” coach Nidiffer said after the match, “Ashlyn Schofield had a stellar night for us, unfortunately we just couldn’t capitalize on her hitting streak.”
The Bruin girls will host the 0-2 Sutherlin Lady Bulldogs next Tuesday evening, September 20th, at Bruins arena with the first serve at 6:00pm.