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Elsik volleyball team's Tuesday win over Katy Taylor has put them in a position that everyone hopes to be in, postseason play. The Rams defeated Taylor in four matches (25-19, 25-23, 28-26, 25-18) to clinch the No. 4 playoff spot in District 18-5A.
This accomplishment is big for the Elsik program seeing that this is the second time in 12 years they have the opportunity to play in the playoffs.
“It (the win) puts us in fourth place in the district play and so we will play Cy Fair, probably Tuesday,” Elsik coach Dawn Murski said. “It puts us in fourth place solely because I heard Mayde Creek lost to Katy.”
And with the playoff hopes on the line, the Rams stepped up to the challenge. In this face off, all points were hard-earned and neither team every truly dominated any one match.
Early on in Match 1, Taylor put together a series of points and held a strong seven-point advantage. But Elsik, though starting with a few errors, responded with strong defense up front to convert over some points. That end-of-game push resulted in an Elsik win.
Elsik’s defensive momentum carried over to Match 2 and the Rams jumped out to an early lead. But Taylor, led by outside hitter Jyoti Ruffin, had other plans. After tying the game at 17, the Mustangs ran away from there to even the score at 1 apiece.
In Match 3 the lead changed at least four different times. Ruffin came through big with nine kills in this game alone. For Elsik, Adaora Elonu (5) and Rachel Blunt (7) each made their presence known as the Rams’ kill leaders as both made the plays when needed. But it was the Rams that squeezed out a win 28-26.
“I just told them to refocus,” Murski said in regards to their huddle talk between Match 3 and 4. “Sometimes I feel like we relax too much…instead playing with confidence ourselves and finishing the job and doing what we do best.”
And it was that mentality they took as the Rams jumped out to an early lead in Match 4. Leading by as many as 11 points at one time, Elsik cruised to a 25-18 victory to clinch the game.
GAME LEADERS
Kills:
AE – Rachel Blunt (13)
AE – Adaora Elonu (13)
AE – Vivian Agbontaen (12)
KT – Jyoti Ruffin (17)
KT – Amanda Patterson (8)
Aces:
AE – Adaora Elonu (2)
AE – Rachel Blunt (2)
KT – Nicole Crenshaw (2)
KT – Kelly Bass (2)
KT – Jyoti Ruffin (2)
5 others tied with 1
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