So close … and not that far away.
The Panther volleyball team went up against the sixth-ranked team in Class A on Tuesday and did more than hold their own. Ultimately, TMB lost in three sets to MACCRAY — 17-25, 17-25, 2325 — but while doing so, showed the resolve needed to take the next step on the road to becoming a stronger team.
“I was very proud by the fight in our team tonight and am proud of their resilience,” TMB coach Heather Kamrud-Rice said. “We had to fight through a little bit of adversity at the beginning of the match, and sometimes when there is a big team that is ranked and just beat Canby, it’s pretty easy to see the spread in the score and just let it go, but these girls were not about to let that happen.”
While losing the first two sets by identical scores, the Panthers proved they can play with one of the best teams in the section, if not Class A. And against two of the most potent hitters they will see all season, TMB came ever so close to forcing a fourth set.
The third set included seven ties, but the Panthers, despite showing some of their strongest net play of the season, were unable to take even the slightest of leads. A hitting error by MACCRAY led to the first tie at 8-8, another MACCRAY miscue resulted in an 11-11 tie, and a Wolverine service error made it 12-12.
But each time the score was tied, MACCRAY was able to secure the next point to continue leading. Alli Dolan served up an ace to tie it once again at 15-15, and the back-and-forth chess match continued through the 17th point. It was at that time that the Wolverines began to separate themselves, as they built a 21-17 advantage leading to a TMB timeout. Kills by Melaina Ankrum and Braelynn Kirk and a hitting error by MACCRAY brought TMB to within one point at 21-20.
MACCRAY hitter Brielle Jensen’s 17th kill made it 22-20 before TMB responded with a kill from Gretchen Lanoue. Jensen would strike again with her final kill for a 23-21 lead, and each
VB team traded service errors to make it 24-22. The set ended with a kill from Emma Thein — her 12th of the night.
“They’re right there, they’re right there,” Kamrud-Rice said. “Tonight was one of those moments. I told them to bring the same fight to practice, and we’re just going to keep pounding at this and get better and better.”
Ankrum finished with 11 hits, 10 assists and four kills, and Kirk had 11 digs and a teamhigh six kills. Dolan had five assists, four digs and three service aces.
MACCRAY 25 25 25 TMB 17 17 23 Kills: Kirk 6, Ankrum 4, Lanoue 3, Adams 2, Martinez 2, Knott 2, Dolan.
Digs: Ankrum 11, Kirk 11, Munson 5, Dolan 4, Lanoue 3, Hoffman 3.
Assists: Ankrum 10, Dolan 5, Kirk 2. Ace serves: Dolan 3, Adams, Freeburg, Ankrum. Blocks: Ankrum. SEPT: 11:
TMB 3, LQPV 0
TMB earned a 25-22, 25-23, 15-16 sweep over LQPV last Thursday.
Melaina Ankrum and Braelynn Kirk had 12 and 10 kills, respectively, and both had 10 digs. Allie Adams had eight kills and four ace serves, and Piper Freeburg served a perfect 100% with a pair of aces.
Alli Dolan added 16 set assists, and Ankrum had 10. Kirk also had three service aces.
