Pine falls in close match to Salmen

Published 11:24 pm Friday, September 16, 2016

SLIDELL — Pine was just one point away from victory in game four against Salmen, but the Lady Raiders were unable to score that point and eventually were defeated in the fifth game of a 25-19, 20-25, 17-25, 26-24, 15-3 loss on the road Tuesday.
Pine was ahead two games to one and had just broken a 21-21 tie with three straight points.
The Lady Raiders were up 24-21 and were on match point, but Salmen tallied three straight to tie the game and then the next two to win it, 26-24.
Pine struggled in the fifth game. Salmen scored the contest’s first eight points. Pine rebounded with two in a row to trim the deficit to six. After the teams exchanged points, Salmen scored the final six points for the 15-3 win.
“I told them I didn’t want to go to game five,” Pine coach Tammy Voth said. “We don’t get started well. We usually finish well, but I told them I didn’t want to go to game five. If we could close it out in four, it would’ve been good. We’ve just got to be consistent. We have to learn to be consistent here.”
The match was close throughout. In the first game, the teams were even at 10-10. Pine scored two straight, but Salmen went on a 7-1 run to make it 17-13.
Pine took an 18-17 lead. After the Lady Spartans called timeout, they closed out the game on an 8-1 run for the 25-17 win.
The second game went much better for Pine.
The Lady Raiders jumped out to an 8-2 lead. During the run, Madison Penton recorded two aces, Haley Stephens had one ace and Lacey Fletcher posted a kill.
Salmen came back with eight straight points to tie the game, but Stephens broke serve with a kill that gave the Lady Raiders an 11-10 advantage and began a 4-0 run.
Pine never trailed in this game. After the 4-0 run, the closest Salmen got was within three, which happened twice at 14-11 and 17-14.
Pine won the game, 25-20.
The third game was similar to the second. Pine got off to another solid start and led 11-5.
Salmen trimmed the lead to 11-7. After the teams exchanged points, Pine put up four in a row and was doubling up Salmen at 16-8.
The Lady Spartans got the lead down to 17-12. Pine extended the lead to 24-16. Salmen avoided game point, but could not the second time, as Karley Voth recorded a kill on game point in the 25-17 win.
Game four was close throughout. The biggest lead was five when Pine had a 21-16 lead.
Salmen came back to tie the game at 21-21. Pine scored three in a row to take a 24-21 advantage, but Salmen avoided game point and eventually won 26-24 before capturing the match with a 15-3 fifth game win.