The Lady Patriots traveled over to Estelline on Saturday to compete in the Estelline-Hendricks Tournament. The Patriots were the defending champions of the tournament and they did everything that they could to walk away champions again, but came up a bit short to the host school.
In the first match of the day, the Patriots faced the Langford Lions. The ladies didn't waste any time and rolled over the lions in two straight sets by scores of 25-11 and 25-5.
Leading the way was Rebecca Huizenga with 6 kills and Laina Puffer with 5 kills. Olivia Knox and Gracyn Bixler each recorded 2 aces.
Gracyn Bixler recorded 19 assists in the contest.
Defensively, two players recorded double digit digs with Cambree Hoekman recording 14 digs and Emmerie Arthurs following with 12. Cora Hofer added 2 solo blocks and 1 block assist in the win.
With the win, the Patriots found themselves playing the Dell Rapid St. Mary Cardinals. The Cardinals gave the Patriots everything they could handle. Both sets were back and forth and tight throughout. The ladies would pull out a 2-0 win by scores of 27-25 and 25-22.
Hofer led the team with 7 kills, Huizenga and Puffer each added 3 kills. Arthurs tallied 2 aces in the contest. Gracyn Bixler recorded 16 assists.
Once again Hoekman recorded double digit digs with 11. Gracyn Bixler also recorded 11 digs.
Hofer recorded 3 block assists, followed by Huizenga with 2 block assists.
With the win, the Patriots found themselves in the championship match with the host school in a rematch from last years championship match.
In the first set, it was all the Redhawks in set one as they did a great job of keeping the Patriots out of system with the aggressive serving and hitting. The Redhawks would take set one 25-18. The Patriots had a lot of fight in set two as they went on a couple of runs in the game and would finish out set two by a score of 25-22. This would set up a deciding set three. The Patriots would find themselves down 11 points. The ladies had some fight left in themselves as they battled back and would end up tying the game late in the set, but would eventually fall by a score of 27-25.
Leading the way offensively was Huizenga with 10 kills. Hofer chipped in 7 kills. Gracyn Bixler once again would record 20 assists in the contest. Arthurs and Hoekman would each record 2 aces in some big runs late in the game.
Defensively, Hoekman recorded 23 digs, Gracyn Bixler was right behind with 21. Avarie Estey and Olivia Knox also added 10 digs each. Hofer and Huizenga each had 4 block assists in the contest.
The Patriots moved to 4-1 on the season and will host the Faulkton Trojans on Tuesday night in Tulare. Match time is set for 6:30 p.m. with the JV.