With starters out due to illness, Lady Bulldogs still go 10-0 in home tournament

ST. IGNATIUS - With junior setter Sarah Bowers out with food poisoning, the Mission varsity volleyball team called upon the services of sophomore Loren Erikson during the Mission Volleyball Tournament last Saturday.

Erikson had never run the 5-1 offense before. It was the first live action that she and the team had seen.

It was no problem.

Erikson led the team with 40 assists out of the team's 45 and helped key them to a 10-0 record and first place finish in the tournament.

"That's what set up the hitters," Mission head coach Kendal Anderson said. "They were impressed with her too. She kept her cool and didn't get down on herself."

She wasn't the only one that kept her cool as both the JV and varsity squads had to deal with a bout of food poisoning.

"I literally got the phone call on my way up to the school about the food poisoning," Anderson said.

Two JV players were out, Bowers was out and junior Ashley Courville was up all night dealing with the ailment. Courville fought through the adversity and finished the tournament second on the team with 23 kills.

Despite this impressive performance, Anderson said she doesn't want her team getting ahead of itself.

"I'm worried that we're going to get a few wins and think we're on top of the roost," Anderson said. "Our problem is that if we play a team that we think is not as good, then we'll play down."

Each match-up featured two games played to 20 points, with a cap at 22, and there was no tournament at the end. Nobody handed the Mission varsity a loss and the JV team went 4-6.

Anderson had given her JV a little extra incentive when both squads played one another in the tournament. Whoever won the game would suit up in the varsity matchup against Superior on Tuesday. Entering the match, the varsity team went extra points against Florence as the junior varsity team got to rest but it didn't matter as the varsity team won 20-4, 20-3.

In the first set, junior Sydney Allard started off with two aces, and the varsity team jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Scott earned a kill and three aces en route to the first-set victory.

During the second set, the junior varsity team was more prepared but unable to register points.

Sophomore Sara Nerby put up a block on senior Adessa Durglo for the junior varsity's first point. Courville spiked the ball before Durglo slapped two hard kills toward her sister.

"Leave her alone," junior varsity coach Annie Morigeau said to Durglo. "You can't haze your little sister."

Durglo just smiled.

With a 17-2 lead, Durglo was issued a yellow card by the judges for picking on her little sister. Anderson said it was all in good fun.

"We joked around a lot with the officials," she said. "She was hitting the ball real hard and hitting it at her little sister. It was just a big joke."

The biggest challenge for Mission during the tournament came in Florence.

"They've always been a tough team," Anderson said. "We knew that was going to be the hardest competition of the tournament."

Last year, Mission defeated Florence at the divisional tournament, but it was an intense five-game set.

During the first game, Mission allowed only 12 points from Florence in a 20-12 win, but things changed in the second game, with the game tied at seven different points throughout the set.

Florence went on a 4-0 run before Mitchell served an ace to put the Bulldogs on the board.

Battling back to a tie game, Florence found Mission's weak spots and gained the lead. Courville put down a kill and Durglo notched two aces for a 9-8 lead.

With Mitchell successfully blocking a ball and Larsson killing one, Mission took a three-point lead.

Florence battled back to a 15-all tie and things were back and forth from there. Scott registered a kill for a 16-16 game before Florence scored one. Scott saved the ball and it popped up to Durglo, who killed it for a 17-16 lead.

Florence bounced back with two points of its own. Allard registered an ace and Durglo got a kill for a 19-19 score.

During a long volley, Florence notched a point but their next serve hit the net for a game tied at 20, forcing extra points.

Florence hit the ball out for a Mission point and Durlgo ended things with a kill for a 22-20 win.

"You would have thought that was a championship game," Trudeau said after the long match.

The Lady Bulldogs also had a close call against Valley Christian. Mission sneaked by with a 20-18 win in the first game and then shut down VC in the second, allowing only six points, winning 20-6.

"We're a team of hitters," Anderson said. "If we can keep hitting, we're going to win games."

Things weren't quite as close against Darby as the Lady Bulldogs were able to grab control for both games.

In the first set, Scott, Courville and Durglo each registered kills en route to a 10-4 lead. Erickson served two aces before Larsson spiked the ball on a 20-8 win.

During the second set, things stayed close before Mission pulled it together. Scott tallied a kill and ace before Darby took a 5-4 lead. Mission rallied back to tie the game on a kill from Scott, with the set from Erickson.

Trudeau added three aces in a row for a 10-7 lead. Darby battled back but Durlgo set up a big block for a point.

Scott earned two aces and Courville and Durglo each earned a kill to finish out the game with a 20-12 win.

Mission ended its day with two wins over Plains, 20-13, 20-12.

"By the end they were dragging," Anderson said. "They were tired."

Anderson said that she wants to see better passing from the team and better communication on defense.

"If we can get our passing up, we'd be pretty fierce," she said.

The Bulldogs opened up regular-season games against Superior on Tuesday night. Results were unavailable at press time. The Bulldogs will travel on Saturday to Eureka before hosting Plains at 4 p.m. next Thursday.