Lady Tigers pick up first win of season

CALEDONIA – After dropping their opening three matches of the season in the midst of a challenging early schedule, the Arcadia Valley Lady Tigers were desperately hoping to reach the win column on Thursday. They were successful in their efforts with a 25-18, 25-20 conference road win over the Valley Lady Vikings.

Both clubs struggled to get on track, both in passing and hitting execution, during the early stages of the match. Only three of the first 22 points of the match were scored on kills, which all came from Arcadia Valley.

The fifth tie of the opening game made the score 10-10. DeAnna Anderson won a joust at the net to give the Lady Tigers the lead. Valley tied the game again on the next point, but Arcadia Valley scored the next four to build a 15-11 lead.

The Lady Tigers built a six point lead after kills from Amber Amelung and Katee Lambert, plus a service ace by Kristen Tiefenauer. Valley got an excellent stuff-block by Christi Clark to cut the Lady Vikings’ deficit to 23-18, but kills by Lambert and Kylee Stocum finished off the game one victory for Arcadia Valley.

Anderson converted on her first two kill opportunities to open game two for the Lady Tigers, but Valley responded to take an early 7-5 after a kill by Clark. Amelung and Lambert fired back with kills to tie the game.

It appeared as if the Lady Tigers would pull away after Brandi Bennett’s service ace made it 13-10, but Michele Milam and Christa Yount buried back-to-back kills to help the Lady Vikings drew even again at 15-15.

A couple of critical passing miscues allowed Arcadia Valley to build another three-point cushion late in game two, but Valley senior Erin Harbison sent a spike to the floor to cut her team’s deficit to 22-20. The Lady Tigers responded by scoring three straight points to close out the game, and the match.

Anderson and Amelung each put down seven kills to lead the Lady Tigers’ offensive attack. Meghan Schaaf led Arcadia Valley in assists with nine, while Stocum added six. Tiefenauer led all players in both service points with seven, and digs with nine. Anderson and Laurie Nichols each added seven digs.

Milam, Harbison, Yount, and Clark each had three kills to lead Valley. Yount topped the Lady Vikings in service points with six. Harbison was Valley’s most effective setter with five assists.

Arcadia Valley (1-3) will play in the Lady Raider Invitational on Saturday. Valley (1-2) will play four games in five days beginning on Monday, when they host Steelville.