MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake Christian Academy/Christian Covenant School Lions volleyball team fell on the road in their season opener Tuesday evening against Odessa with a final score of 1-3. 

“Some of these guys are really young, so they just needed to get that under their belt and relax a little bit,” said Lions head coach Dean Spurbeck. “Next game, hopefully it’ll be better.” 

In the first two sets of the day, Odessa had control of the court with a strong serving game, winning both. In the third set, the Lions began to come together offensively and ended up taking a 25-22 win, but were unable to stay ahead in the fourth set, where they lost 18-25. 

The strong point for the team came from the offense’s ability to pass the ball for some good rallies, make hits on the outside and put some pressure on their opponent. Spurbeck said the skill the Lions showed in the third set is very encouraging for the season ahead. 

Spurbeck said serving was a major issue in the Lions’ game against Odessa. Early on, the team struggled with their own serves and was unable to defend against the serves from their opponent. 

For future games, Spurbeck said he wants the team to work on being more prepared in terms of not putting as much pressure on themselves. For many players, this game was their first high school game, so now that they’re used to the environment, he expects the players to be more confident in themselves. 

The Lions will also put a focus on training themselves on serving the ball at the next couple of practices.  

“It was a good first game because it gives us stuff to look at,” said the coach. “Most of these girls are very young, so hopefully that’ll start loosening them up a little bit and gives us some stuff to go through practice with and work on.” 

The Lions’ next game will be on the road Tuesday against Entiat at 6:15 p.m. 

BOX SCORE: 

MLCA: 11-9-25-18: 1
ODSA: 25-25-22-25: 3 

    Emma Collins preparing to pass the ball during a practice at the start of the season. The Lions’ offense showed strength against Odessa as they began improving their passing and making strong outside hits.