Spudders Emily Vossenkuhl and Presley McCaskill jump for a block at Union High School.
Ridgfield’s Delaney Nicoll spikes the ball during Thursday’s game at Union High School. The senior had one block and ten kills during the match.
Junior Emilea Stepaniuk hits a serve during the second set of the RHS vs. Union game on Sept. 12. She had a total of nine passes.
Delaney Nicoll runs to save the ball for the Spuds. She had a total of seven passes on Thursday.
Defending volleyball state champs Ridgefield High School kept the train rolling Thursday night against Union High School, sweeping the Titans in three sets: 25-18, 25-17 and 25-14.
The Spuds went undefeated in the regular season last year and lost only one game during playoffs. They clinched the 2A state title after beating Lynden 2-1 on Nov. 10.
Following the state win, Ridgefield’s varsity volleyball team graduated only one senior, Kameryn Reynolds. This year, spectators need to watch out for senior Delaney Nicoll and juniors Alicia (Allie) Andrew and Emilea Stepaniuk. Nicoll had 10 kills on Thursday night while Andrew followed up with eight kills and four blocks. Stepaniuk had eight digs.
Head coach Sabrina Dobbs said the team is full of “really strong hitters” and feels the Spuds’ defense is the team’s strong point. As for things they need to work on, the 10-year coach said the girls need to work on their mental game.
“We have been working more on trying to deal with our mentality of playing this season after winning state last year,” she said. “It’s really trying to figure out our team complex, how is our outlook going to look for the season and focusing on ourselves and our opponents.”
Junior Andrew echoed Dobb’s thoughts and believes the team needs to “work through the ruts” and not get themselves down as much. Despite this, Andrew feels the team has “a lot of phenomenal players” and is ready for another season on the court.
Stat highlights
Delaney Nicoll: 10 kills, 1 block
Alicia (Allie) Andrew: 8 kills, 4 blocks
Emilea Stepaniuk: 7 passes
{{tncms-inline content="<p class="p1">Tuesday, Sept. 10</p> <p class="p3">Woodland at La Center: 3-1 Woodland</p> <p class="p3">Fort Vancouver at Hockinson: 3-1 Hockinson</p> <p class="p3">Ridgefield at Skyview: 3-2 Ridgefield</p> <p class="p4">&nbsp;</p> <p class="p2">Thursday, Sept. 12</p> <p class="p3">Hockinson at Evergreen: 3-0 Evergreen</p> <p class="p3">Kalama at Woodland: 3-2 Woodland</p> <p class="p3">Battle Ground at Washougal: 3-1 Battle Ground</p>" id="5358abff-f0f3-472d-9276-723621ef42c9" style-type="info" title="Other volleyball scores from around north county" type="relcontent"}}
