SOAP LAKE — The Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions (4-6) earned a key victory over the Soap Lake Eagles (6-5) in a close battle Tuesday night. Both sides battled hard, leading to a final fifth set where the Lions came out on top 3-2. 

“I’m so excited,” said Lions senior Abby Stanley. “We’ve kind of been struggling lately with our losing streak, but I’m just glad to get it done.” 

The Eagles and Lions showed how competitive they were going to be right from the start with a very close first set. Soap Lake built a small lead over MLCA early on but the Lions stayed strong to tie the game at 16-16, then took the lead 17-16.

MLCA built a slight lead for themselves, but Soap Lake wasn’t willing to fall, and they tied the game at 22-22. From there, the Eagles won the set 25-23. 

The high energy remained in the second set, but this time the Lions gained a 16-7 lead early on. The Eagles continued to battle but couldn’t quite find an opportunity to close the gap as the Lions extended their lead to 20-10. 

Soap Lake eventually found a spark to go on a scoring streak, but MLCA stayed strong to seal a win in the second set 25-19. 

“A lot of it was just us keeping the ball under control and us putting the ball where we needed to put it,” said Lions Head Coach Dean Spurbeck. “We needed to put pressure on them by where we put the ball.” 

In the third set, the Eagles came back with renewed momentum as they built a 15-9 lead over the Lions. MLCA worked to close the gap and got themselves within four points of Soap Lake, but the Eagles stayed fierce to win 25-19. 

The Lions created a 9-0 lead off solid serves from senior Abby Stanley and fluid movement on their side of the court. Stanley said her mindset was locked on just making sure each of her serves made it in. 

The Eagles made a push to rally back late in the set, but by then the Lions had already had enough momentum to claim a 25-12 win. 

The long and high action game came to its conclusion in the fifth set with neither team looking to back down. The Lions and Eagles stayed neck and neck throughout the set, but eventually MLCA gained the upper hand to win 15-11. 

Stanley said MLCA’s mindset of working together and having fun on the court was a key factor in their success Tuesday night and she hopes to see that continue through the rest of the season. 

“I’m so excited for the rest of the year and I just hope it goes well,” said Stanley. 

Service was a key highlight for the Lions Tuesday night, said Spurbeck, as the girls placed the ball where they needed it. The team also had great movement all around the court as they made recoveries on multiple occasions that transitioned into MLCA points 

He said MLCA played very well Tuesday and showed active improvement on the court. Being in a close matchup against Soap Lake was beneficial as it taught the Lions how to handle pressure. 

“We’re getting better and that’s what I’m excited about the most,” the Lions coach said. “We’ve got half the season to go now, so we’ve got to win. You’ve got to be good at the playoffs but being better a little bit before that would be good too.” 

While the game didn’t end the way Soap Lake would have liked, Eagles Head Coach Erin Fletcher said Tuesday gave their young team some valuable lessons that will be necessary to be successful down the line. She highlighted the fact that MLCA was ready to play their best game and the Eagles will have to prepare for more teams playing at that level. 

Getting the young Eagles team out of their routine was where she said a lot of the troubles came from. During practices this week they spent time prepping the gym for “pink week” and this took them out of the mindset to play a tough opponent like the Lions. 

“We have to be disciplined and we have to stay consistent,” said Fletcher. “Moses Lake is very well coached; Dean has been at this a long time. He’s coached for many years and you could see it with his team, how they hit and how they approached things. They got after us and they exposed us.” 

Picking up the tip over the net was a crucial aspect of the game that Soap Lake struggled with against MLCA Tuesday said the Eagles coach. She also wants the girls to dig deep to fight their way back into games and pick up on the off-speed stuff that has been getting the better of them this season. 

“We have got to work better in practice to be more disciplined and get them up off the ground,” said Fletcher. “And then our serves, we are consistently a hard serving team and we’ve got to carry that through.” 

Even with a tough loss, the Eagles coach saw highlights that she feels will be crucial to helping them improve in the next couple weeks. Playmakers like sophomore Marina Zubritskiy finding the court and keeping high energy were what kept Soap Lake in Tuesday’s game and have helped the Eagles win throughout this season. 

“Marina’s a great hitter; she’s probably one of the best outside hitters in this entire league,” she said. “When she finds the court for us and when she is getting great sets and we’re getting good passes, she’s really hard to stop. When she’s finding the court and she’s excited, that for us was the difference in those first and third sets.” 

Utilizing energy like that will be the main focus for the Eagles in the coming weeks as they work to eliminate highs and lows before the postseason. As they get ready to play against another tough league opponent in Pateros, building up their motivation is on the forefront of the coach’s mind. 

“We’re going to work on cleaning up our defense, keeping up our energy and getting after it,” said Fletcher. “We have been really excited for this Pateros game and I want that to carry over.” 

The Eagles remain home to face Pateros on Thursday at 6:15 p.m. and the Lions will head to Liberty Christian on Monday at 6:30 p.m. 

BOX SCORE 

MLCA: 23-25-19-25-15: 3 

SPLK: 25-19-25-12-11: 2 

    Abby Stanley from the Lions gets ready to serve late in Tuesday’s game against the Eagles. During the fourth set, serves by Stanley helped the Lions build a 9-0 lead.
  

    Soap Lake’s Marina Zubritskiy leaps up to slam the ball over the net during Tuesday’s game against MLCA.
  

    MLCA’s Ava Bishop gets into her stance as she prepares for the oncoming Soap Lake serve.
  

    Samantha Watson from the Eagles steps up to serve during Tuesday’s home game against the Lions.
  

    Lions player Zoey Ferguson smacks the ball back toward the Eagles during Tuesday’s home game.
  

    Lily Gonzalez from Soap Lake bumps the ball up after responding to a hit from MLCA Tuesday evening.