Falcons Tied for Second in TRC Race

It is another year of volleyball in the Three Rivers Conference.  The teams that are seemingly always at or near the top, are there again.  One of those is Fillmore Central.  The Falcons probably won’t catch Caledonia.  A couple wins the week of Monday, October 1 helped Travis Malley’s crew stay in second place though.  It took extra effort versus W-K to get a win.  The teal and black took the first two sets.  After ten early ties in game one, FC used a 5-0 run to lead 16-11.  W-K tied the set at 18, but the home team got the win 25-21.  The FC Falcons then won game two in a rout, 25-13, for a 2-0 lead.  W-K finally looked challenge-worthy in game three, building a 20-13 lead, which FC nearly erased with a 6-0 run.  After ties at 21 and 22, a couple Falcons-South errors egged W-K to a 25-22 win.  Game four saw FC get to 20 first (20-18).  They led 22-19, before W-K ended on a 6-1 run to win 25-23, evening the match at 2-2.  At that point, more oft than not, the team with momentum takes game five.  FC spotted W-K a 4-1 lead, but the game was tied at 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 13.  In the end, the hitting of maybe FC’s best leaper, 5’7” MH Maddie Krage, was the difference.  The junior amassed six kills and two blocks in game five.  She scored FC’s final four points via kill, including the final two.  In a very hard fought affair, where each team topped 100 digs, FC fended off a near collapse, posting a big 3-2 win (25-21, 25-13, 22-25, 23-25, 15-13).  Krage led the way with a career-best, season-county-best, 25 kills on .440 hitting.  Setter/hitter combos Kandace Sikkink (12 kills 28 assists, 15 digs, 18-18 serving) and Lauren Mensink (11 kills, 22 assists, 20 digs) went all triple-double, each for a fifth time this season.  It’s the fourth time they’ve done so simultaneously.  K.J. Corson (42 digs) notched her second straight 40 dig effort.  Ashlyn Simon (13 digs), Hope Sexton (12 digs), and 8th grader Kammry Broadwater (8 kills, 3 blks) assisted.  W-K was game, particularly defensively, led by Morgan Lavigne (18 kills, 27 digs), Savannah LaRocque (30 digs), and Sophie Graner (41 assists, 11 digs).  FC then downed R-P in straight sets (25-17, 25-12, 25-19).  Mensink notched her sixth triple-double (12 kills, 12 assists, 12 digs) and Sikkink (9 kills, 20 assists, 13 digs) got close.  Krage (8 kills), Corson (13 digs, 21-21 serving), Krista Jorgenson (7 kills), Simon (9 digs, 3 aces) and Sexton (7 digs, 4 aces) helped.  Kaleah Davis (8 kills), Elly Malone (16 digs), Alyvia Eide (10 digs), Isabelle Kahoun (10 assists), and Kaylee Ruberg (5 kills) paced R-P.  Caledonia (8-0, 18-2) leads the TRC over second place squads L-A (7-2, 14-6), FC (6-2, 11-8) and PEM (6-2, 8-8).  FC has beaten PEM and L-A.  The Falcons final TRC foes are D-E (1-6, 5-12), Chatfield (4-5, 9-10), and St. Charles (5-3, 7-9).