Ferris Sweeps Rogers To Assume First Place By Itself

Ferris has little more to prove to Greater Spokane League volleyball teams.

Seven matches, seven wins. Twenty-two games, 21 wins.

“I think one of the things that makes us tough right now is we have so many people who can attack the ball,” Ferris coach Stacey Ward said after her Saxons topped visiting Rogers 15-10, 15-5, 15-7 Saturday in a match between 6-0 teams.

“Now that (the first loss) is there, we can look at what we need to change,” said coach Anna Vanderpool, whose Pirates remained one win shy of their best record in 14 years.

Since a 15-13 loss in the third game of their season opener with Central Valley, the Saxons have won 19 consecutive games.

Rogers jumped ahead 6-0 in Saturday’s first game, but Ward called timeout and Ferris responded with a 9-0 run.

“‘Just don’t let up,’ is what (Ward) told us,” said Saxons junior Amy George. “We were just a little anxious at the beginning.”

George served five points during the first-game rally and four straight to start the Saxons toward a 10-3 middle-game lead. Rogers’ serve receive was shaky all night.

“There were lots of things we did to ourselves, which is totally unusual for us,” Vanderpool said.

Ferris wore down the Pirates with the hitting of 5-foot-8 George, 5-10 junior Missy Blackshire and 5-7 senior Darcy Ruemping.

“They didn’t let up, either, when we were socking it to them,” George said.

“(The Pirates are) a scrappy team,” said Ward, who spent the two days before the crucial match passing a kidney stone. “They’re really going to go places.”

In other GSL matches, Mead (6-1) tied Rogers for second place with a 15-6, 15-11, 15-1 win at North Central (1-6); visiting Lewis and Clark (4-3) tied Gonzaga Prep for fourth after a 15-10, 15-13, 10-15, 15-7 win; and CV (2-5) earned a 15-7, 15-7, 17-15 win over visiting University (0-8).

At NC, Andrea Carnahan and Kelsey Sturm had 13 assists apiece and Mead used its size to wear down the Indians. NC’s Sarah Menard had five assists and five digs.

At G-Prep, LC broke from a 13-all tie to win the second game and streaked to a 7-1 lead to take the clincher. Juli Brannan had 13 digs and four aces, and Erika Robinson 24 assists and five blocks for the Tigers. Jen Williams had 15 kills and four blocks, and Story Tombari 31 assists and 10 digs for Prep.

At CV, Crystal Lee had 16 kills and three aces and the Bears rallied from an 11-7 third-game deficit. Sabrina Page had eight digs for CV. U-Hi’s Julia Yoke had 18 assists.

Tracie Thayer’s eight kills, four blocks and three digs led Clarkston (2-2) to a 15-8, 15-6, 15-11 Frontier League win over visiting Riverside (0-3).

Charlene Bates served five straight second-game points, and Jenni Harlow served the match’s final five points. The Rams’ Lacey Darby had nine assists.

Girls soccer

Jamie Rizzuto scored twice and Nicki Snyder added two assists as Deer/Park Riverside (5-0-0, 4-0-0, 12 points) stopped visiting Cheney 5-1 at Deer Park to tie for first in the Frontier League.

Bernice Stime scored just 1 minute, 7 seconds into the match, then fed Rizzuto for a 2-0 lead midway through the first half. Kadee Anderson scored at 64 minutes for the Blackhawks (3-3-1, 3-1-1, 10).

In other matches, West Valley (4-2-1, 4-1-0, 12) tied for the top spot with a 5-0 win over visiting Clarkston (0-5-0, 0); Medical Lake (0-5-1, 0-4-1, 1) scored late for a 1-all tie with visiting East Valley (4-2-1, 3-1-1, 10); and Pullman (2-1-1, 7) rallied for a 2-1 win over visiting Colville (1-5-0, 1-4-1, 3).

At WV, Dawn Salfer scored twice and Gabby McClintock added a penalty kick goal. Cinnamon Anderson had 25 saves for Clarkston, which had no shots on goal.

At Medical Lake, Leah Meltser pounced on a ball deflected by EV goalkeeper Anita Heaton and scored at 69 minutes for a tie. EV’s Jessica Bowen scored on a breakaway.

At Pullman, Sarah Chandler scored off a corner kick to tie the match, then scored the game-winner at 74 minutes.

Cross country

Katie Pollock (19 minutes, 8 seconds) finished second and Heidi Bartholomew (19:38) third to lead Mead to the girls title at the 3-mile Curtis (Tacoma) Invitational.

Mead, with 353 points, edged U-Hi by three for the team title. U-Hi’s Taraka Campbell (19:53) finished fifth.

U-Hi (347) finished second of 15 boys teams, two points behind Capital. U-Hi’s James Berry (15:56) won his third invite.

Jessica Riehle (19:48) finished second and Clayton Holmes (16:15) fifth for West Valley at the 3-mile Wenatchee Invitational.

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