Hard Fought Victory - By Gunner Horton

On Saturday night, October 7th, the Richland Girls volleyball team traveled to Hermiston High to take on the Bulldogs. After having already played once at the start of the season and Richland coming out on top. The Bombers look to do it once again.  

Before the game, I had a chance to talk with senior libero Ella Mcgee on her thoughts going into the game, and she said “she was confident about the game” Then, to start off the game, Richland was in possession, and they came ready to play, Emerson white was first in the rotation of servers, and she put the Bombers up 6-0 quick before allowing permission an opportunity to serve. After a tough back-and-forth run, the Bombers started to pull ahead. Led the Bulldogs to find a different approach, then on the next serve after Richland hit back over senior Izzy Simmions had a dominant kill which then led to back-to-back points from Hermistion. With the starting to find a groove, the Bombers needed to get something of their own back, and they did just that with Gracie Moss jumping up and making a huge block to keep the score distant. The Bulldogs were forced into calling the first time out of the game to take time and regroup. 

With the Bombers dominating in the first set, getting themselves some strong momentum to move through the game, they came out to win the first set 25-18. Working into the second set, the Bombers are ready; starting off on the receiving end this time around didn’t stop the Bombers from playing at their best after permission scored the first point of the set due to a violation from Richland; the Bombers flipped it around and get a strong kill hit by Jenna Holm to tie up the score and give Richland a chance at serving for the first time that set. With some long rally and a fairly even back-and-forth set around the back half of the set, Richland started to take back dominance until the Bulldogs hit them with 4 straight points across the board to pull ahead for Hermiston and put the score 15-16 to cause the Bombers to call the first timeout of the set. Entering back into play after the timeout, Richland was ready to go; after a few back-and-forth points, the Bombers hit permission with 3 straight points to put them back into the position to gain the win of another set. 

With the score now being 22-17, permission started to make a few changes, and it definitely worked; the Bulldogs made a comeback with some back-and-forth points to turn the score to 24-21 with Richland leading. Then Hermistion turns the momentum around and puts on a show to go three straight points and make it a one-point set 24-23. With the Bombers trying to get out of this and end the set, Hermistion holds on just a little longer to tie up the game 24 a piece. In a crucial moment like this, a violation is the last thing you want to happen, but unfortunately, the Bombers give one up to put permission up by one; serving it over, the Bombers set up Jenna very well with a lovely placed ball to giving her an amazing kill to tie the set back up 25-25. With the pressure slightly getting to the Bombers, the Bulldogs used that to help them get two straight points to get their first win set against Richland in the game with a score of 27-25. 

Heading into the third set tied 1-1 on the game, Richland knew they had to make some big plays to go up ahead, and well, they sure did with Malia Haynes starting off serving. She came out hot with an Ace to gain their first point of the set, and it only went up from there. Battling back and forth for points, Hermiston fires back, getting an ace of their own to tie up the game 4-4. A few more impressive rallies get the Bombers ahead after landing a tough kill hit by Gracie Moss to put them up 8-7. Playing through the set, Richland starts to make a pullaway super late in the set by scoring three straight points to put the score 21-18 having the Bulldogs call a time-out. Making their way out of the timeout, they would then again put up another three straight to make it a one-score set 24-18. Richland was really fighting for this last point to take the lead in sets; with a big rally out of both teams, the Bombers finally put it away, making it their fourth straight point to win the set, heading into what could be the last set if the Bombers pulled through. 

Starting the fourth set, Simmons is in rotation for Hermistion. She puts up the serve to lead for a good rally by Richland and gives to the point by the Bombers. Leading to back-to-back points, Jenna, with the kill, really pushed some momentum the Bombers' way. As the set went on, points were being wracked up. The Bombers feel confident with three straight points from a score and back-to-back aces. The Richland leads 18-13, feeling ready to close out their game. Hermiston finds themself another point before Richland scores back-to-back points going up 20-14. The Bulldogs were forced to change something if they wanted to stay in the game, and something did with them scoring four points along a stretch. They find their close in a closer game, 21-18. In such a close game, the Bombers continued their lead, scoring another two points making it 23-18 and harder for hermistion to win. With a few hard rallies, Hermistion gave it their all but ultimately fell short to Richland's dominant last couple of points giving the Bombers yet another won set 25-20 and finished the game 3-1 victory in sets. After the game, I had the opportunity to talk with Head Coach Valerie Anderson about the game and how she's going to prepare for tough matchups coming next week. She said, “The team played well, but it also games gave her an idea of what they need to work on going forward against those big matchups, and the main points were serving and serving to receive.”