In a hard-fought battle on Tuesday, September 24 at home the Varsity Chix volleyball team fell short to the undefeated Unity Christian Crusaders in a 1-3 match loss.

Throughout the entire match Jr. Elyse Smith put up some phenomenal sets for her hitters, and even after her team took a loss she said “I feel like as a team we played very well. That was obviously the toughest team in our conference as of now, and I feel like we definitely played to our full potential. I do think we could work on having a little more urgency and grit, and really wanting the ball because a lot of the time we do want the ball but not bad enough so that might be where we fell though.” 

Some game highlights were the 10 kills that came from Soph. Lizzy Risdon who had been set up by Smith from some of her 27 assists.

Even though the Chix anticipated tough competition and wanted a chance to win this match, the Crusaders fought harder. After the competitive game, Coach Sarah Mulder stated, “I think they’re a really good team that played high-level volleyball. I think that showed us our weaknesses in terms of just being able to hit around a big block since they’re powerful at the net, so I think hitting around a block and making sure we’re covering. Also, we need to work on defensively anticipating and reading more.”

Stats on the night:

Kills:
Lizzie Risdon- 10
Savannah Byker- 6
Paityn Burke- 5
Caroline Baker- 5
Mirra Fenlon- 2

Aces:
Mahalia Vis- 4
Lizzie Risdon- 2

Assists:
Elyse Smith- 27

Digs:
Jordan Inosencio- 14
Lizzie Risdon- 10
Mahalia Vis- 10
Elyse Smith- 6
Paityn Burke- 5
Gracyn Huizenga- 5

Blocks:
Savannah Byker- 3
Caroline Baker- 1
Mirra Fenlon- 1

The Chix finished round 1 of conference play with a 4-2 record. They start back up with round 2 on next Thursday by hosting Hamilton. FIRE UP CHIX.