Taking down their district rivals, the Lady Dragons continue to be the top ranked team of the 2A district 5 team as they move through the final weeks of the regular season.  As they hosted the West Side Pirates in their match up Wednesday, October 4, it was clear to see why they are leading the standings and what a force they are on the court.

In their second faceoff for the 2023 season between the Lady Dragons and the Pirates, Malad took control of the game early on and didn’t let up until the final whistle blew.  As the opening set began, West Side came out strong and was able to keep up with Malad and some dish up well placed hits of their own.  With balls coming across the net to the deep corner or as a short to, the MHS volleyball team did well to keep the ball in play and make the most out of each play.

With the Pirates up by one point, the Lady Dragons used their signature grit to not only tie up the game, but slowly begin to plow ahead.  Defending a strong attack from West Side, back row player, Mikell Keetch dove to pass up a hit that was clearly in, sending it back across the net.  The Pirates rallied with another hit that was popped up with a soft block by Liv Nelson and Hallie Horsley.  Brylee Oglesbee kept the ball from dropping with Horsley sending it back to Pirate territory.  Digging the tough hit, the West Side pass was headed over the net where Adley Kimberling met the ball and attempted to drop it with a quick tip.  The Pirates got a hand on it enough to keep it in play and once again send it back to Malad.  Anistyn Tovey scrambled to pop the ball up, allowing setter Kimberling to put the ball in position for Horsley to slam it down for the point.

The Lady Dragons didn’t let up as they put up more big plays as Brynnlee Jones powered hits through the tough West Side double block, Izzy Haycock sent unpassable serves and Nelson put up ball stopping blocks.  With a surge of energy, the Pirates attempted a run on the scoreboard just as the Lady Dragons capped off the first game with their final point.  Fortunately for Malad, West Side committed an error to give up the last point to end the set 25-18.

Starting off the second game with the serve, Kimberling put a killer serve across the net, taking the first point of the set with an ace.  The MHS serves to follow were in a similar manner- difficult to read, tough to pass, and enough harder to make a play off of.  The Lady Dragons are a challenging team to pass from the service line with aggressive jump serves, floaters, and controlled spot serves.  

Countless times, the Pirates would pass up the tough MHS serve only to overpass the ball, setting up the Lady Dragons time and time again for a big hit.  In a single rally, Horsley alone had two hits on an overpass, thanking her opponent for such a perfect setup by slamming nearly straight down.  Forcing errors for the West Side team and capitalizing on them, Malad jumped to an early lead and pushed on to win the second set 25-8.

The Pirates came out in the third game with the hope to make a stop after falling short in the two previous games.  They tightened up their game to reduce their mistakes and cause a few for the Lady Dragons.  As the two teams tallied up their first handful of points, the scoreboard rallied back and forth just like the game on the court.  Jones put a little extra fire and energy in her team as she took advantage of another West Side overpass off Kimberling’s serve.  The MHS players began to increase the pressure as they picked up nearly every ball that came across the net and sent it back with even more force.

With the score 18-12, the Lady Dragon kept up their momentum as they won another tough rally.  Tovey popped up a near perfect pass that was sent to Horsley for the hit.  The Pirates rallied with a block that Tovey put a quick hand on to keep it in play.  Oglesbee bumped it up with Horsley sending it across the net with a strong tip.  West Side countered with another attack that was dug up by libero Oglesbee from the back.  Horsley tipped the ball over on the second hit, surprising the Pirates who could only respond with a free pass.  Teagan Daniels took advantage of the easy volley, putting up a good pass that Kimberling set up for Horsley to hit, tooling it off the block to end the rally and win the point.

Pushing on for the final points of the set and match, the Lady Dragons claimed the win after Jones put up a final attack against the Pirates, sending her hit off the block to win the game 25-15.

The Lady Dragons ended their week competing in the Butte County “I ‘Pink’ I Can” volleyball tournament.  Coach Camie Tripp was looking forward to having some new and tougher opponents to go up against.  Looking back over their schedule, the Lady Dragons have easily been able to defeat the better part of their opponents and having a tighter competition is just what the MHS team needed as they move through the end of the season.  Over the 18 hours of tournament play, the Lady Dragons defeated each of their teams, including Rockland, The Ambrose School and Camas County, to put them in the championship game.  Going to the best of the three, Malad came up short as they went up against the undefeated and highly ranked Horseshoe Bend team.

The Lady Dragons move into their final week of their schedule, hosting the Soda Springs Cardinals for their last home game and senior night Wednesday, October 11 where all high school students will be admitted for free.  The following night the MHS team will play in Bear Lake before the district game will begin on Saturday.