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Vail strongarms Soroco volleyball

Joel Reichenberger
Soroco senior Briana Peterson swings for a ball Tuesday against Vail Christian. The Rams played better as the night wore on, but couldn't do much against an elite Vail team playing well.
Joel Reichenberger

— It was apparent fairly early Tuesday night that the Soroco High School volleyball team would be scrapping for the small victories as it battled at home against Vail Christian, undefeated entering the night and the No. 9 ranked Class 2A team in the state by the most recent CHSAANow.com poll.

The Saints showed just how they’d achieved all that, blistering the Rams with big kills and an ever-ready defense, especially early, en route to a three set victory, 25-8, 25-14, 25-19.

“They were just the better team,” Soroco coach Jeannie Jo Logan said, summarizing the outcome in just six words.



She went on to say, however, her team did get a few of those small victories, adding it will need to build off that as it flies through the middle portion of its season.

That task begins Friday as the Rams, 6-4, welcome Hayden to Oak Creek for a homecoming night showdown.



Soroco took care of business against the Tigers in their first meeting, winning in three sets in Hayden. The Tigers are coming off their first win of the season, but the Rams would love to see a repeat of the sweep that came early this season.

To do that, they’ll need to play a lot more like they did later Tuesday than they did earlier.

In the first set, Vail senior hitter Taylor Alexander smashed one hit that dug into the top of the net, then rolled over to fall for a point. The Saints weren’t lucky, however, and neither was Alexander, who led the team in building a lead as big as 14-1. They were just really, really good.

On offense, Vail hammered its way through the Soroco defense, forcing out-of-system returns when it didn’t get the point straight away. On defense, the Saints seemed to have a player in position for every eventuality.

The Rams picked themselves up, however, and that was most evident in the third set. Kali Constine, Briana Peterson and Lucy Carlson all had nice moments, adjusting to that Vail defense to squeeze in kills while rising up for a few blocks.

“They just got a little smarter in their plays, thinking ‘Let’s move them around and get to those holes,’” Logan said. “Still, Vail Christian covered the floor well. There weren’t many holes all night.”

It wasn’t nearly enough to turn the tide, but it was enough to scratch out some small victories on a night when the other team had the spotlight.


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