Scarlets win hard-fought battle against Maidens
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ARLEE — The Ronan Maidens lost to the Arlee Scarlets Thursday night, but they did not go without a fight.
In the first game, the Scarlets started out quickly with a couple of kills from Becca Nelson to make the score 5-0. But the Maidens fought back and closed the gap 10-9 and forced an Arlee timeout to edge Ronan’s momentum. Arlee ended up winning the first game 25-15.
In the second game, the Maidens jumped to a quick lead of 12-3 as a result of good serving and stayed in control during most of the game. Ronan sealed the second game win (20-25) when Darian Blixt-Leo tipped the ball into an open spot in the Arlee defense.
For the next two games, Arlee and Ronan battled back and forth with the Scarlets taking game three, 25-15, and the Maidens winning game four, 25-22.
In the fifth game, Head Coach Brian Big Sam said the Scarlets made a few adjustments to seal the win, 15-9, because they were starting to struggle offensively and defensively.
“They started to get lazy and didn’t want to move their feet,” Big Sam said. “They were having the mindset that the ball was going to come to them.”
In the final game, the Scarlets used shoot sets that landed in open spots on the court to throw off the Ronan defense.
“I told them they needed to play smart,” Big Sam said. “And that means you shoot the ball into the corners.”
In five games, Nelson tallied three aces, 12 kills and 33 digs. Dix had two aces, two blocks, 12 digs and 22 assists. Whitney Malatare scored two aces, two blocks, 21 digs and eight kills. Mahalia Hendren had four aces, three blocks, 20 digs and 10 kills. Bailey Rice had two aces and 20 digs.
“It’s a good win,” Big Sam said. “We will take every win we can get.”
In the loss, the Maidens had 14 kills with Payge Delaurenti scoring five. They had 17 kills (Alaina Madsen, 9) and 58 digs (Ashleigh Lynch, 18). Lindsay Clairmont had 14 assists and Bethani Coleman had three blocks.
