A pair of 5 win evenly matched teams battled Tuesday in a volleyball contest held in Alliance. The Chadron Cardinals rallied from a 2 sets to 1 deficit to post a 25-27 28-26 23-25 25-22 15-8 victory over the Lady Bulldogs in a thriller played at Alliance High School. The Bulldogs did win both the reserve game 25-16 25-23 and JV matchup 25-23 25-20 to begin the night. Alliance varsity squad now sees their record drop to 5 and 5 on the season.
Chadron bolted to the early lead in the opening set. The Cards raced to a 9 to 5 lead before Alliance would rally. Kills by Addison Weber Shyla Salcido knotted the score at 10 all. More big plays by Weber and Jaelynne Clarke gave Alliance a lead at 24 to 22 as play remained very tight. Two more kills by Salcido ended the set with AHS winning 27 to 25. Both Clarke and Salcido finished the set with 4 kill spikes each while Junior Taylee Thompson paced the Dogs with 4 points.
Play remained even in set 2. The set was tied at 3, 5, 8, and 9 before a small run by Chadron gave the guests the advantage at 17 to 11. Alliance answered back with more kills by Clarke and 7 points from Regan Braun to tied the score at 23. Tied at 26 the Lady Cardinals survived the rally and scored the last 2 points and went on for the 28 to 26 win.
Clarke and Braun continued their solid play in set 3. Clarke ended the set with 6 kills and 3 points while Braun added 4 points and 2 kills as AHS came back from an early 5 point deficit. Down 22 to 20 another kill from Clarke plus a kill by Bulldog Josie Sanders knotted the score at 23. It was Clarke in the final moments as the senior added a block and another ace spike to help Alliance win set 3 25 to 23.
The momentum then swung to the Cards in set 4. Chadron roared out to 9 to 6 margin and kept the pressure on the hosts. Alliance would close the gap to 10 to 8 only see Chadron surge ahead to take a 19 to 11 lead midway through the set. Super plays by Weber, Braun, and Clarke helped AHS stay close at 24 to 22 but the set ended with a Chadron point and the win in set 4 25 to 22.
In the finale the Bulldogs would get 2 more ace spikes from Clarke to tie the score at 5 all but it was all Cardinals after that. With the score 9 to 8 in favor of Chadron the guests ended all Bulldog hopes by tallying the contest’s final 6 points. 15 to 8 Chadron in set 5.
AHS 27 26 25 22 8
Chad 25 28 23 25 15
Stats had Clarke ending the night with 21 kills and 9 points. Braun was good for 14 points with Thompson adding 10. Weber also had a nice night, scoring 9 points and finishing with 7 kills.