Lady Vandals Win Streak Snapped

The two leaders of the Northern division east and west leagues met in girls volleyball action last week at Eureka and the west won.

Virginia City downed the Lady Vandals 3-0 Sept. 29. Scores were 25-21, 26-24, 25-23.

It was the first time the two teams had played each other this season.

The loss broke the Lady Vandals 14-match win streak.

“This was a very close match,” Eureka coach Katie Benson said. “They are probably the toughest team we have seen all year. It was good for us to play them close as it was, even when we lose, and know now what we need to work on in the next few weeks aiming for the division playoffs. We will probably seen them again.”

Benson said in the first game, the Muckers (9-5) “had a six point lead we tried to overcome. In the second game, they came from behind on us and beat us with several points from their last server. Game three was close the whole time, but we just could never quite pull ahead.”

Benson said Virginia City has, “two pretty dynamic attackers on the outside (Chelsea Nevin with 18 kills and Hannah McLauchlin with 14 kills). And we also struggled with their serves.”

Alia Minoletti had seven kills for Eureka and Carlie Wells had five.

Benson noted she thought some Virginia City players may have the advantage to play some club ball in Reno when school is not in session. “Gives them a lot of experience and we very rarely see attackers who can hit like that, to so many different spots well.”

Having the long winning streak broken Benson said she was proud of the team for playing hard and not backing down. “We continued fighting.”

The day before, was the third meeting of Carlin and Eureka this season, twice in league and the first time at the Battle Mountain tournament in August. Eureka has won all three matches.

“Our girls played well,” said Benson. “It was senior night and they stayed tough against Carlin.”

The scores were quite wide spread, 25-8, 25-12, 25-5.

“Shauna Brown had a long serving streak in two of those game,” Benson said. “and in the final game, we only needed to change servers two or three times.”

Josie Hoekenga had six kills in the match.

This week, Eureka (19-4, 5-0) played at Battle Mountain in non league action Oct. 2.

The girls won that match, although were extended to a 3-2 count. Scores were 25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 13-25, 15-13.

They have another non-league match with host Oasis Academy of Fallon in a non-league match Oct. 5 in Eureka.

It will be the last home game of the regular season for the Lady Vandals as they finish on the road at Jackpot, Wells and Owyhee.

Eureka will also have home court advantage as they host the Northern divisional playoffs will be Nov. 2-3.