Prep Volleyball: Off On The Right Foot

The Harrisburg High School volleyball team started the season off the right foot, sweeping its cross-town rival Eldorado in straight sets Tuesday night.

Harrisburg won 25-18 and 25-20 as Madeline Rider served nine points for Harrisburg, three of which were aces.

Sophomore middle Bryleigh Buchanan, who was named to the SIRR All-Tournament Team over the weekend, had 11 kills and one block.

Matty Hawkins, sophomore middle, had eight kills while senior Ally Langley had five kills for the Lady Dogs.

Freshmen libero, Devin Butler had multiple touches on the floor which got the offense going and senior setter Lilee Robinson had 15 assists for the night while junior Jessica Schwartz had five.

"It was a great overall team effort on the night," Harrisburg head coach Heather Cox said. "Our serving was solid and unforced errors were limited. It was a great opportunity to get a win and start heading in the right direction."

For Eldorado, Mary Mitchell was 3-for-3 on sets and had 27 spikes to go along with one kill. The senior went 3-for-4 on serves with three points and had 22 digs on the night.

Rachel Durham. was 26-30 on sets, while going 6-8 on spikes. She was perfect at the line, going 11-11 on serves with 10 points and two two aces.

Brooklynn Peavler served 13 points to go along with two aces. She was 11-12 on serve receiving with 15 digs.

Abby Steed was a perfect 14-14 on sets and a flawless 21-21 on spikes with nine kills. The senior went 5-5 on serves, she had two blocks. one kill and 12 digs.

Lexi Clore had 14 digs, while Jordan Bailey went 6-6 on sets. Kaitlyn McGuire was 2-2 on spikes and nine digs, while Whitney McGuire was 1-1 on spikes and four digs. Kaitlyn Etienne was 1-1 on serve receive with one dig.

For the first game of the season, EHS head coach Lisa Craig said she was pleased with how her team played.

"We played as a team and everyone contributed to our good play," she said. "We went up against a much taller team with two very good middle hitters and we did a great job on defense. We never gave up, we always fought back if Harrisburg went on a run. Brooklyn Kaitlyn McGuire, Mary, and Lexi had very good digging game. Abby had a good night at the net. Mary had a lot of back row spikes that helped with our offense. Rachel and Brooklynn got us back in the game with their serves. For our first game I was very pleased with our team."

The Harrisburg junior varsity team also won 25-20 and 25-22.