Spanish Springs remained atop the High Desert League on Tuesday night with a 25-12, 25-23, 25-17 home sweep of Reed.
The Cougars (27-6, 9-2) remained one game clear of McQueen (8-3 in 4A North play), which beat Reno (7-4 in 4A North play) in five sets on Tuesday night. The fourth-place Raiders dipped to 5-13, 3-8.
Despite the win, Spanish Springs coach Frank Sandomenico didn’t have glowing reviews for his team’s showing.
“I just think at times we look like a good team, and at times we just in a mode where we just aren’t clicking all the time,” he said.
His team did click in the first set, especially at the service stripe, and rolled to a 25-12 win.
“They were serving really tough at us, and we weren’t ready for that,” first-year Reed coach Amy Morris said. “We didn’t move quickly enough into the game plan we were trying to do.”
She said her team did a better job executing that game plan starting in the second set. The cross-town foes were tied at 20-20 before the hosts scored four of the next five points to take a 24-21 lead.
The Raiders closed to 24-23, then Alyssa Zuzo put the set away with one of her three kills. Emily Moore led both teams with 14 kills in the winning effort. Olivia Shepard led Reed with six kills.
A Spanish Springs error crept Reed within 20-17 in the third set. The Cougs then scored five straight to seal the win.
“We have to be more consistent in practice, and be more mentally focused,” Sandomenico said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. We just give away points.”
Spanish Springs’ coach added that he feels Reed is the most-improved team in the region.
Still, Morris wants to see her team start finishing off sets.
“We’re playing harder,” she said. “We put ourselves in games. We’re giving ourselves an opportunity to win. It’s just a matter of experience … How do we get over the hump? We’re getting into the 20s now.”
Reed will play two more matches this week, at North Valleys on Thursday and at Hug on Friday.
Spanish Springs was scheduled to play at McQueen on Thursday. That match was moved to next Wednesday.
The Cougars go to North Valleys the day before that anticipated matchup.
Leave a Reply