By Skip Hunter –

Last Tuesday the Eagles welcomed the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots to town for their second RRC volleyball match. Katherine Feikema opened the match with an excellent flute rendition of the national anthem, and the game was on. The Eagles won in 3 games, 25-19, 25-14, and 25-16 to improve their record to 2-2.

In game 1 the Eagles got going with a Makenna Moss pass to setter Ana Veldkamp who set Sienna Trip for a kill. After the Patriots took a 3-1 lead, libero Myah Vander Maten passed to Veldkamp who set Paris Van Dyke to make the score 3-3. The teams then played back and forth; Moss scored an ace and eventually the Eagles went ahead 8-6. They increased the lead by one on a Madyson Fey pass to Veldkamp who set Jocelyn Barron for the kill. However, the Patriots came back and tied the score at 9, 10, and 11. SWC got a Barron kill to make the count 12-12.

After the score was tied at 13-13, Veldkamp passed to Makenna Brands who set Fey for a kill. Veldkamp made 2 ace serves to make the score 17-13. Tripp scored again using help from Vander Maten and Brands. The teams traded errors which left the Eagles clinging to a 21-19 lead. After 2 more HBC errors, Vander Maten hit an ace serve, the Patriots made yet another error, and the Eagles came away with a 25-19 win in game 1.

The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game two using a Moss kill, a Fey kill, and a Veldkamp ace serve. However, HBC came back to tie the score at 3. Van Dyke tied it at 5 with a kill, and then Van Dyke and Barron each had a kill using a Vander Maten pass and a Veldkamp set to make the score 8-6. The Eagles went ahead 11-6 when Makenzie Pap smacked 2 ace serves. By the time Pap was finished serving, the Eagles led 12-7.