Broncos lose first game, 3-1

DAVENPORT-Taking advantage of a Lind-Ritzville/Sprague team down Zoe Galbreath, the Gorillas handed the Broncos their first loss outside tournament play of the season with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Set scores were 25-16, 23-25, 21-25, 23-25.

But the Broncos returned to win column Thursday, Oct. 19, sweeping Jenkins, 3-0.

At Davenport (7-5), the Gorillas had trouble finding their footing at the start of the match and the Broncos (12-1) jumped out to a 11-5 lead.

The Broncos lead would grow to 20-10, before the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls would take the set, 25-16.

"We weren't playing our game," Davenport Coach Natalee Hayes said. "Once we identified that we weren't doing that, (we) figured out what we could do and changed right after that."

The final three sets were all tight-knit affairs.

The second was tied 13-13 as dig-set-spike chants between the two student sections became increasingly creative, including Broncos students chanting "stick to soccer" and Davenport retorting "25 to 0," referencing the Broncos' football loss to Reardan last Friday.

Lind-Ritzville/Sprague trimmed Davenport's lead to 24-23, but Faith Bell's kill finished off the set for a 25-23 Davenport victory.

That gave Davenport the momentum.

The Gorillas took a quick 8-3 lead in the third set. That lead turned into a 14-8 lead as the Broncos student section was scolded cursing after call they didn't like.

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague students then made amends by chanting, "We are sorry," as Davenport's lead turned to 16-10, then became a 25-21 set victory.

The fourth and final set was very competitive. Davenport built a slim 8-7 lead that was extended to 18-14, but four straight Broncos points tied the set.

The game went back-and-forth until the Gorillas finished with two straight points, culminating in a Koda Coffman ace to close the match.

Davenport was led by Naomi Rainwater's 18 kills and two aces, Tatum Hupp's 16 digs and two aces and Coffman's 12 assists.

Saige Galbreath had 23 digs and 10 kills for the Broncos, while Addy Colbert notched 23 assists and three aces.

After the Broncos first loss of the year, the team regrouped Thursday, Oct. 19, to sweep the Jenkins (Chewelah) Cougars, 3-0.

Set scores were 25-17, 25-15, 25-22.

Megan Melcher, Claire Wellsandt and Saige Galbreath each had 10 digs in the game.

Galbreath added 2 blocks and teammate Colbert had 3 aces.

For the Cougars, Trinity Ross had 16 digs and Lily Kent had 14 assists.

Kent, Brooke Bennett and Sydnee Baldwin each had 1 ace for Jenkins. Bennett added 5 kills, as did Sophia Nevarez.

That same night, the Gorillas lost 3-2 to the Northwest Christian (Colbert) Crusaders.

The regular season has wrapped up and the first day of district play was Tuesday night, with the Broncos hosting Asotin in Gilson Gymnasium.

Elsewhere in the Northeast 2B district tournament, Davenport was slated to travel to Chewelah to play Jenkins and Northwest Christian was scheduled to go to Spangle to play the Liberty Lancers.

And Colfax was scheduled to host Upper Columbia Academy.

Round 2 of district play was scheduled to start tonight, Wednesday.

With the loss to Davenport, the Bronco girls fall to No. 4 in the state Class 2B polls. League rival Colfax (12-3) is ranked No. 10.