Falcons pick up two wins, fall to Phillips

The Abbotsford volleyball team went 2-3 over the past week, picking up wins over Colby and Spencer but taking two losses in their tournament and falling to Phillips in a conference match on Tuesday evening.

3-0

Tuesday evening was a key match for both the Falcons and the Phillips Loggers. Both teams needed to get a win in order to keep pace with Athens and Prentice at the top of the Marawood- North standings. In the end, it was Phillips that came out with the victory, beating Abbotsford in straight sets. The defeat left the Falcons with two conference losses, putting a conference title out of their reach.

The Loggers took the first set with ease, rolling past Abbotsford 25-11. The Falcons regrouped in the second set, which was much more closely contested affair. A 6-2 lead for the Loggers was the largest advantage either team had over the course of the match, but it was a gap that Abbotsford quickly closed. Both teams battled back and forth and while Phillips had held a small lead for much of the late portions of the match, it was Abbotsford that reached set point first. Up 24-23, the Falcons had an opportunity to even the series at one game apiece, but the Loggers came through with three straight points to take the second set 26-24.

In the final set, Phillips held a comfortable lead for most of the mid and late game and while the Falcons made a late push, outscoring Phillips 9-4 over the last stretch, they could not overcome the large deficit they had found themselves in and fell 25-21.

Abbotsford Tournament

The Falcons also hosted a tournament this past Saturday, inviting six other teams to take part. The team took third behind Stratford and Prescott after going 2-2 in their matches.

Abbotsford opened their day with a match against the Spencer Rockets. Despite holding a significant lead at one point during the first set, the Falcons were pushed past 25 points, needing 26 to eventually defeat the Rockets 26-24. They were able to maintain more of their advantage in the second set and won 25-19. Spencer’s Claudia Krause was difficult for the Falcons to stop at times and the senior recorded a match-high eight kills and a .400 hitting percentage.

Briseida Escalera provided the most kills for the Falcons, but the Abbotsford squad once again spread the ball around on offense. Escalera ended the match with six kills while Sydney Falteisek, Sommer Brodhagen and Oriah Harris each had five. Calley Ruesch also added four.

Brodhagen and Faith Sperl took over from the service line, both recording four aces in the contest. Meanwhile, Falteisek led the Falcons on the defensive end, successfully digging out 13 Rocket hits.

The Falcons struggled to get into any sort of offensive flow in their next match against Stratford. The Tigers botsford defense and kept them from transitioning smoothly into their fast pace, offensive sets. Stratford was able to take the match with relative ease, defeating the Falcons by double digits in straight sets, 25-13 and 25-14.

Falteisek was Abbotsford’s most effective weapon against the Tigers, getting four kills on a .250 hitting percentage. Ruesch also had four kills and the pair also led the team in digs, recording eight and seven respectively.

The Colby Hornets and the Prescott Cardinals were the Falcons’ final opponents of the day.

The match against the Hornets was closely contested, but much like the first time the two teams collided, Abbotsford emerged victorious, doing so in come-from-behind fashion. After dropping the first set 25-22, the Falcons went on to win the final two to claim the win over their neighboring rivals. Falteisek sealed the 25-22 win in the second set with an ace and Ruesch ended the match with a kill to put Abbotsford up 15-10 in the final game.

Ruesch led the team with seven kills while Falteisek added six of her own. They both also had 13 digs and Falteisek led the team with four aces. Celia Schindler contributed five more kills in the win.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, had dominated in the group stage matches and, while Abbotsford pushed them to the limit in the first set, they could not quite pull out the win. After escaping with the 26-24 victory, Prescott made sure that the second would not be nearly as nail-biting, defeating the Falcons 25-11 to take the match in straight sets.

Ruesch once again had the team high in kills, garnering five with a .231 hitting percentage. Harris added four of her own while being part of two blocks. Falteisek put together a three ace performance and Sperl led the team with 10 digs.