SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Eagles volleyball team (1-4) fell to Odessa (3-1) Wednesday evening. Though the Eagles lost in three sets, the closeness of each set showed the young squad a lot about where they need to improve moving further into their season, head coach Erin Fletcher said.  

“I felt like we beat ourselves,” said Fletcher. “We have come so far, I think it was a really good matchup against us and Odessa, but it wasn’t a game where I feel like we truly got beat, but instead kind of beat ourselves.” 

Mental errors down the stretch were ultimately what ended up costing the Eagles deep into their sets. While this can be frustrating for the team, Fletcher said as the girls gain more varsity experience, they will learn how to navigate through that.

Coming out of the game, the coach said the girls did show how much they’ve grown in remaining competitive throughout each set. 

“We have done a much better job the last week or so of trying to contain our highs and our lows,” she said. “Every sport is kind of a game of runs, and we’ve been trying to stop the runs early on their side and really capitalize on our own runs once we get those.” 

During Wednesday’s home game, the Eagles also played with a reconfigured lineup, which Fletcher said has helped the team figure out their next path. This new lineup will be instrumental moving forward and if the girls remain competitive all the way through, control their variables and put forth their best effort, she said, they will find success in more games like this. 

She highlighted Soap Lake’s abilities to pull out great rallies Wednesday even when they were out of system. The Eagles were also proficient in their blocking with it being their first night of having multiple blocks this season. 

“Multiple blocks is huge for us because we’re very little,” said Fletcher. “We had about three or four blocks last night from our middles which is huge.” 

There were also standout performances on the Eagles side against Odessa, said the coach. Sophomore Marina Zubritskiy continued to find the court offensively and put up key points to keep Soap Lake in the game. 

Nataleigh Wynn, a sophomore with the Eagles, had a great game Wednesday both offensively and defensively, which Fletcher said was a key difference on the court. 

“What was nice is that it kind of showed us where we needed to move Nataleigh into our lineup,” said the coach. “She has so many great skill sets, she’s an amazing setter, she had to play middle over the summer for us and last night we just realized that her being an outside hitter is going to be a really good spot for her and us.” 

She said the girls are eager to get back on the court for their next game as they are slated to head on the road to face Odessa once again Monday evening.  

“We are very excited about that because we feel like we left a lot on the table and we don’t plan to do that on Monday,” said Fletcher.  

Monday’s game brings another level of excitement for the team as it will be their first game of the season with their new team uniforms.  

As this young Eagles squad continues to improve and gain varsity experience, the coach said she is excited and proud to see how far they grow this season.  

“It’s been really fun to watch,” said Fletcher. “That’s what we keep hearing from everyone that’s coming to the games and attending is these girls are getting so much better every single day. We love that about them, and we love that they are continuing to try and fight and work toward making sure that we are a really good team.” 

The Eagles rematch against Odessa will take place Monday at 6:15 p.m.  

BOX SCORE 

ODSA: 3 

SPLK: 0 

    Marina Zubritskiy, a Soap Lake sophomore, connects with the ball to bump it into the air during a prior home game.