For The Tribune

CROTHERSVILLE

After winning at West Washington the previous night and then winning the first two sets against sectional-rival Orleans on Tuesday night, it appeared Crothersville’s volleyball team would finish off the Bulldogs.

However, the Tigers’ opponent would not give up, and they won the next two sets to force a tie-breaker.

In the tie-breaker, sophomore Chasta Lamb was able to score four points off her serve to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead.

The game was so close that neither team led by more than two points.

With the score tied at 10-10, both teams broke their opponent’s serve seven consecutive times.

Trailing 14-13, the Tigers weren’t able to muster a comeback as the Bulldogs sealed the victory by winning the final point.

The final scoreline read 20-25, 26-28, 25-20, 26-16, 15-13 in favor of the Bulldogs.

Nearly half of the Tigers team consists of sophomores, and they didn’t play quite as well as they had the previous night.

“We got some jitters, and we had some downtime,” Tigers coach Linda Luedeman said. “We have some things we need to focus on. We are a very young team. We have some good moments.”

Instead of seeing her squad play well in streaks, Luedeman said she wants to see more consistency in her young team.

The leading servers for the Tigers were Maddie Riley who went 15 for 17, and Brittany Clem who made 12 of 13 attempts.

Katrina Christian led the Tigers’ hitting unit with 14 makes and seven kills on 17 tries.

The Tigers have a good chance at seeing Orleans again in the postseason, and Luedeman said she thought the match was a good test for her young Tiger team.

“We have some good moments,” Luedeman said. “Our serves have got to go over the net. We let our teammates down on that part of it. The Tigers are still capable of having a very good season. This team will get better as they gain more experience.”

Luedeman said the passing game has gotten better, and she is ready to keep the team focused while continuing to improve.