Lady Vandals in Second Place After Pair of Wins over Owyhee

Two wins over the weekend put the Eureka Vandals girls volleyball team in a solid position in second place in the 1A northern-east behind Owyhee.

Coach Katie Benson said the girls beat both Jackpot and Carlin in straight sets 3-0.

At Jackpot, on Friday the scores were 25-16, 25-18, 25-13. “Jackpot was pretty scrappy, but then they made mistakes attacking,” she said, which often means the player hits the ball into the net or out of bounds.

She said, “Alia Minoletti hit really well for us and Shauna Brown has been running the offense very well lately as well. Savanna Sanders and Coby Gibbs are always our strength on defense. Those four are our core group.”

On Saturday, the girls faced the Carlin Railroaders and won 25-12, 25-13 and 25-8.

Brown, Minoletti and Kelli Norris each had long scoring runs in this match of seven or eight points each. “Gibbs was hitting very well for us also in the match.”

This Thursday, the Lady Vandals (11-6, 8-1) played at Battle Mountain, then league leader Owyhee today and on Saturday a non-league match at Tonopah. They play Round Mountain on Oct. 24.

Benson said playing Battle Mountain (2A Northern) “will be a good game for us to play, as a tune-up for Owyhee (14-5, 8-0), our toughest league match. We did play Battle Mountain in the pre-season White Pine tournament and won 2-0. They weren’t as good as they usually are. But that was pre-season and things could change.”

Eureka lost at Owyhee, 3-0, Sept. 30 with the second two sets being fairly close. “It is mentally challenging to play Owyhee and important for us to rise to that challenge.”

The eight-team 1A Northern regional playoffs will be held Nov. 3-4 at Wooster High in Reno.