By Jeremy Burnham
Reporter 

Lady Broncos volleyball drop regular season finale

 

Last updated 10/31/2019 at 12:55pm

Journal photo by Jeremy Burnham

Lind-Ritzville/Sprague volleyball's seniors pose for a group photo with their parents prior to the final home match of their high school career on Oct. 24.

Senior night ended in disappointment for the home team as Lind-Ritzville/Sprague volleyball dropped its final regular season match of the season in a rematch against league-leading Liberty on Oct. 24.

The Lady Broncos showed some signs of fight in the first two sets, but the stellar play of Liberty's Massie Burnham was too much as the Lancers won in straight sets, 25-14, 25-20, 25-12.

LRS started sharp scoring the first two points, but Liberty answered back with a 5-0 run. A block by Eliza Galbreath seemed to tie the set back at eight, but a violation called by the referee gave Liberty the 9-7 lead. Masie Burnham's back-to-back-to-back points gave Liberty a 12-8 lead and forced LRS head coach Cari Galbreath to take her first timeout.

LRS scored out of the timeout as Taylor Galbreath sneaked a lob over the net on the second touch. But then Burnham scored two more for Liberty to give the Lancers 15-9.

Cari Galbreath called her second timeout down 21-13. Out of the timeout, Liberty scored 4 out of the next five points to clinch the set 25-14.

The second set started back and forth. LRS tied the set at 6, but a 5-2 run by Liberty forced Cari Galbreath to take a timeout down 11-8. The Lancers scored out of the timeout off a hitting error by LRS.

A powerful serve by Taylor Galbreath hit hard into an opposing player's face, bringing the crowd back into the match and closing the gap to 13-11. It would be short lived, however, as Liberty then went on a 3-0 run to make it 16-11.

Eliza Galbreath had a highlight moment when she sent a Burnham serve right back over the net for an LRS point. Liberty extended its lead to 23-15. A 5-0 run by LRS pulled the Lady Broncos to 23-20, but back to back Liberty points, capped off by a dominating kill by Burnham, clinched the set for the Lancers.

The Lady Broncos ran out of fight in the third set as the Lancers ran away to a 25-12, match-clinching victory.

Cari Galbreath was disappointed in the lack of fight she saw out of her team in the final set.

"I feel that has been one of our weaknesses," Cari Galbreath said. "When we are down two sets, I don't want to say we give up hope, but it seems like we do. I'm not sure if they have already defeated themselves, but from a coach's perspective, I feel if we win that third set it's huge in shifting the momentum of the rest of the match."

The loss marked the eighth straight match for the Lady Broncos that ended in a sweep. Three of those sweeps were LRS wins, while five were losses. Cari Galbreath said she wants her team to learn to keep fighting after losing the first set.

"If we could just take some third sets, we would win more games," Cari Galbreath said. "I think it's more of a mental thing trying to get them to keep fighting through ... I think it's a maturty thing. Either we are winning, winning, winning, or we are losing, losing, losing and we can't seem to climb out of it."

Taylor Galbreath had seven assists, six digs and five kills for the Broncos. Eliza Galbreath added two blocks.

Burnham led the way for Liberty with 19 kills. Ellie Denny had 29 assists.

The match was the final home match for the Lady Broncos' four seniors. LRS said goodbye to Brinley Moore, Ellie Gering, Katheran Gingrich and Eliza Galbreath. Also honored was senior cross-country runner Jessica Heater.

Cari Galbreath says senior night is always a sad occasion for her each year. However, she tries to keep the team focused.

"The truth is, the season isn't over," Cari Galbreath said. "The seniors aren't done. We are still playing."

The loss against Liberty follows another straight set less two nights earlier against Colfax. Despite the losses, Asotin's loss to Reardan on Oct. 22 clinched the No. 3 seed for LRS in next week's District 7 championship tournament. LRS will open the tournament against Chewelah on Nov. 5.

 

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