Pateros volleyball loses mental match to non-league Republic

PATEROS – The Nannies varsity volleyball team let a highly regarded Republic team get into the heads and lost a non-league home stand by three identical set scores of 25-18 on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Pateros coach Gene Dowers summed up the game in his typically analytic fashion.
 “We heard a lot about Republic’s offense, especially their big middle hitters,” said Dowers. “I think we let their reputation sway our expectation of who was going to win.”
However, about mid-way through the first set, the Nannies discovered that they were giving as well as well as they got in a straight up give-and-take with the Tigers.
“We were playing even with them and I started to think that we could take them,” said Dowers noting that Republic’s big offense never showed up. “One of our silver linings was (Taylor Harrild’s) serving, She’s been working really hard on getting into a good rhythm and it came together.”
“Our game plan worked real well keeping them out of their system but we kept them in it with our errors,” said Dowers. “As cleanly as we’d played against Riverside Christian, we went the other way in this one.”
Against the Crusaders three days earlier, Pateros came back from being down two close sets against RC to win the next three and take the best of five match.
Pateros was scheduled to take its 5-2 league record on the road against Wilson Creek on Tuesday, Oct. 17, and will host undefeated league-leader Entiat at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19. The Nannies will host the Pateros Volleyball Tournament starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, and Easton at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23.
Stats
Sarah Poole: 3 kills, 7/8 serves w/1 ace, 1 assist, 14 passes, 7 digs
Jissele Ornelas: 2 kills, 1 pass, 2 digs, 1 solo block
Samantha White: 6/7 serves, 8 passes, 10 digs
Andrea Baird: 1 kill, 4 assists, 2 digs
Ashlyn Gonzalez: 12/14 serves w/1 ace, 19 passes, 12 digs
Taylor Harrild: 3 kills, 9/10 serves w/3 aces, 4 digs, 1 block
Anna Williams: 1 kill, 11/13 serves w/4 aces, 4 assists, 5 digs, 1 block