Posted Monday September 22, 2008

STANFIELD - The Heppner Mustangs and Elgin Huskies played a great five set match on Saturday afternoon at the BMC 4-Way volleyball tounament. Heppner ultimately took the match 3-2 by winning the first to 15 fifth game.

The first game of the match started about a half hour after Elgin's win over Stanfield. Heppner came out taking the early 5-1 lead. Elgin battled back to tie it at 6-6. Elgin took the lead at 9-8 and didn't look back as they took the lead in the second half of the game with the strong serves of Tara Ludwig, Chantele Malone and Kelsey Fincher. The game ended with Elgin winning 25-20.

Heppner took control of the game early and dominated from the 13-10 point through the 25-13 final. The Mustangs seemed to come alive with great play at the net by Lenka Dobosova. Dobosova's powerful offensive work at the net included spikes that seemed to break the sound barrier.

The third game was a close one. The lead was being exchanged regularly with the teams at 22-22 close to the end of the game. Strong team work and some strong serves by Brandi Campbell and Lauren Sauers closed out the set with a win for Elgin 25-23.

The fourth game was controlled by the Mustangs on several levels. First Dobosova came alive with strong offensive net play and Taighler Dougherty had two long runs of serve including an ace. Heppner took the game 25-12 forcing a tie-breaking game five.

The first to fifteen fifth game was close with the teams tied 6-6 just before the midpoint. That's when Lenka Dobosova served to take the Mustangs to a 10-6 lead. Big time kills from Dobosova and Sheilyn Peck were momentum makers for the Mustangs. The Mustangs took the fifth game 15-9.

Photos by Terry Aichele