Coyotes win Tournament opener
Coyotes win Tournament opener
By TIM HANSON
The Sheridan County Coyotes won their first game of the District 10 tournament Monday night, defeating the Washburn Cardinals three games to one. The Coyotes play the Trojans of Turtle Lake-Mercer on Tuesday night in a semi-final game. The Coyotes will have to win one of the next two games to advance to the Regional tournament.
Jacy Hausauer was the leader in kills with eight and blocks with four. Taylor Gahner dished out 21 assists and was the digs leader with 10 and also served up four aces.
Candy Ankenbauer was the star for the Cardinals as she was the leader in kills with 11, aces with six and blocks with two. Lexi Meier led in digs with six and Sheree Ganje was the leader in assists with 16.
The Coyotes jumped to an 8-2 lead to start game one. Taylor Gahner picked up an ace and Karissa Erdmann a kill in that stretch. Candy Ankenbauer got a pair of kills for the Cardinals’ two points.
An ace from Brittany Thomas and kills from Jacy Hausauer and Tia Harper gave the Coyotes a 13-3 lead. The Coyotes then rolled up a 21-7 lead after an ace from Gahner and a kill from Erdmann.
The Cardinals made a run with Ankenbauer serving four consecutive aces. A serve over the end line ended the Cardinal run and a long serve ended the first game with Coyotes on top, 25-15.
A couple of kills from Kimberly Tkach put the Coyotes up 4-1 in game two. An ace from Erdmann put the Coyotes up 8-2. From there the Coyotes took a 19-6 lead with Tkach, Gahner and Erdmann getting kills, along with an ace from Harper. The only bright spot for the Cardinals was a pair of kills from Sam Schell. A serve over the end line ended the game with the Coyotes up 25-13.
The Coyotes came out on fire for the third game as they jumped to a 7-2 lead then struggled as they got caught out of position a number of times but still held a slight lead until Cori Moberg put down an ace and a kill to make it 12-11 Coyotes. Back to back serves in the fence for both teams left the score at 13-12 Coyotes.
A long serve by the Coyotes tied the game at 13 each. The Cardinals then scored the next six points. The only offensive point was an ace from Sheree Ganje.
An ace from Tkach and back to back kills from Hausauer closed the gap to 21-22. That was as close as the Coyotes got as Moberg put down a kill for the 24th point and a block for the 25th point.
The Cardinals came out strong the fourth game but the Coyotes were able to stay within a couple of points and cut the Cardinals’ lead to 10-9 on back to back kills from Tkach. The game was tied at 10 and 11. Tkach broke the tie with a kill and kills from Erdmann and Hausauer put the Coyotes up 14-11. Moberg kept the Cardinals within a couple of points with a pair of kills
