VOLLEYBALL South Range rebounds, eliminates league rival

The Raiders and Mineral Ridge had split in the regular season.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
SALEM -- It took three games for the unseeded South Range High volleyball team to eliminate fourth-seeded Mineral Ridge Wednesday in the Division III sectional tournament.
The Raiders won the first game 15-12, lost the second 15-13, then hung on to edge the Rams, 16-14.
The Inter-County League rivals had split their regular season meetings."It seemed the longer we played, the better we played," South Range coach T.J. Irons said. "We dug ourselves a big hole in the second game. We got down 14-4 and came back. The girls didn't panic because they knew there was another game."
In the third game, Mineral Ridge (15-8) led four times and there were four ties. With the score deadlocked at 14-all, the Raiders' Kelly Skrinyer produced two service points to finish off the match.
Plenty of tips
Throughout the match South Range scored points on tips.
"We worked out tips a lot at practice and knew where spots were open so we could do that," Irons said.
Added Mineral Ridge coach Jenny Staunton, "We didn't expect them to tip so much.
"In the first game, we fell behind 6-0," Staunton said. "We came back and if we had played a little better, we could have won."
In the first game, the Rams recovered from the 6-0 deficit to tie the score at 7, but the Raiders had another 6-0 run and Mineral Ridge wasn't able to recover.
In the second game, the Rams went on 10-0 run to break from a 4-all tie. South Range came back to 14-13 before Mineral Ridge won the game.
Kelly James scored six points with four aces, nine digs and four kills for the Raiders.
Jodi James had four points, 22 kills, seven blocks and an ace.
Natalie Biastro scored 11 points, with two aces and 17 digs and Kelly Skrinyer had seven points, 17 assists, two kills and ace and dig.
For the Rams, Larissa Proud had 15 points, seven aces and seven kills.
Carrie Wilson had six points, 19 assists and an ace. Jenna Hinks had nine points, 17 kills and four aces and Dariana Casado had 17 kills.
United 15-15, Waterloo 9-3
Allison Carroll sparked the second-seeded Golden Eagles with 20 points while Courtney Thomas had 10 digs and Kelly Powell had eight kills and six blocks.