Tigers sweep in season opener
IAN BIVONA | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 2 months AGO
The Ephrata Tigers meet as a unit after sweeping the Cascade Kodiaks in Ephrata’s season opener which they won against their opponents from Leavenworth.
IAN BIVONA/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Junior Addison Mills performs a serve in the Tigres’ opening set against the Cascade Kodiaks on Tuesday.
Ephrata senior Halee Moore serves the ball during the third set. Ephrata head coach Britney MacLeod praised Moore for her passing skills that help the team offensively.
The student section, dressed in different jerseys, celebrated with every point scored by the home team.
Ian Bivona serves as the Columbia Basin Herald’s sports reporter and is a graduate of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. He enjoys the behind-the-scenes stories that lead up to the wins and losses of the various sports teams in the Basin. Football is his favorite sport, though he likes them all, and his favorite team is the Jets. He lives in Soap Lake with his cat, Honey. | September 7, 2022 11:02 AM
EPHRATA – The Ephrata Tigers opened the 2022 campaign with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-10) sweep over Cascade (Leavenworth). Coming off an appearance in the 2A state tournament, the Tigers look to stay their momentum entering a new season.
“(It feels) good,” head coach Britney MacLeod said of the season-opening win. “We’re coming off of a really strong team, strong season last year. They did a good job.”
After Ephrata scored on the opening rally, the Kodiaks bounced back, taking a 4-2 lead. Once the set was tied at six, the Tigers went on a six-point run to double Cascade. Ephrata never looked back, eventually winning the first set 25-14.
“We made some mistakes, we made the mistakes we thought we were going to make, but it feels good for them to settle in and know they can do it,” MacLeod said.
After the Kodiaks scored on the first rally of the second set, Ephrata outscored the visitors 8-2 in the first 10 points of the set. Once posting an 18-9 lead in the second set, the Tigers scored six of the final nine points to close out the set and take a 2-0 advantage.
“The pace of the game,” MacLeod said of the anticipated mistakes. “Just slow transitions from our hitters and some ball control errors – but our ball control tonight was (done) really well.”
The Ephrata attack was strong in the team’s first outing of 2022, jumping out to early leads in the final two sets. Similar to the second set, Ephrata scored eight of the first 10 points and 14 of the first 20 points. To close out set three, the Tigers scored nine of the final 11 points, earning a 3-0 sweep of the Kodiaks.
“Halee Moore, she’s our libero, she does a great job of always giving us a great ball that our setters can use,” MacLeod said. “When we pass the ball, we can swing well.”
Despite the win, MacLeod believes there are lessons to be learned from the season-opening performance.
“We definitely have things to learn,” MacLeod said. “I think that the higher level we keep practicing at we’ll be able to execute a quicker offense. Make sure our defense is on the ball all the way around, they work hard.”
Ephrata returns to the court on Saturday, Sept. 10, hosting a tournament at Marty O’Brien Court.
“It’ll be a good opportunity for us to mix up our lineup and see – maybe we have a strong lineup, or if we can fix a couple things,” MacLeod said of the upcoming weekend tournament held at the school. “It’ll be good to mix kids in and kind of figure out where we fit best.”
Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com. Find more sports coverage at www.columbiabasinherald.com.
