WOOD RIVER – Metro East Lutheran took on East Alton-Wood River in a Prairie State Conference volleyball match that one dominating color.
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Pink.
The Knights and Oilers took part in EA-WR's Volley for the Cure match Wednesday night, an evening devoted to fund-raising and raising awareness for breast cancer. The Oilers wore pink jerseys instead of their maroon-and-gold, Memorial Gym was outfitted in pink streamers and balloons and breast cancer survivors were recognized in a pre-game ceremony.
The Oilers came out of the gates and won the first game, but the Knights bounced back, holding off several runs by EA-WR in taking a 23-25, 25-23, 25-18 win.
“We were definitely relieved to finish that second game on the high end of the score,” said MEL coach Jon Giordano. “Wood River was really coming for us and we started getting tentative; it's so easy in volleyball to play not to lose rather than play to win. I feel we got caught up in that in the second game. We were able to finish, get a third game, get the lead and finish, so we'll take it.”
That the Knights were able to shake off that first-game loss and come back for the win said something about their character, Giordano felt. “It would have been so easy for them to fold up after losing that tight first game,” Giordano said. “I was very impressed with them; they rebounded well in that second game.
“I think they had a sense of 'we can do this' and had some confidence. We had a big comeback (Tuesday) against Greenville where we were down 16-9 in the third game and came back to win, so I think that's helped them have some confidence in those kind of games to keep fighting and keep making plays.”
Closing out matches has been a problem for the Oilers off and on this season. “They come out so strong, they fall apart and don't know who they are in the second and third games,” said Oiler coach Patti Scott. “They fall behind and they know how to play catch-up, but they never seem to play to go over that edge.
“We have our good spurts and then we go back like this; we had a week off, played last night, played again tonight. It's just tough.”
The Oilers and Knights traded the lead throughout the first game, but the Oilers managed to get on a small run and close out the opener. Game two opened fairly even until the Knights managed to get on a run and get the lead out to 17-9 before EA-WR could score again. The MEL lead expanded to 23-13 and the Knights seemingly had the Oilers on the ropes, but EA-WR came alive to cut the lead to 23-17 before MEL scored again to get to game point.
Back came the Oilers, who took advantage of a couple of Knight miscues to pull to within 24-23 before the Knights finally closed out the game.
The rubber game started out evenly as well before the Knights took control to pull ahead 17-10, then expanded the lead to 20-12 before the Oilers started to rally; they cut the lead to 21-15 before the Knights took control again. EA-WR made one more run to cut the lead to 24-18 before MEL closed out the match.
The Knights went to 7-15 overall, 3-1 in the PSC with the win; the Oilers fell to 6-10 overall, 0-3 in the league. EA-WR hosts Bunker Hill this evening, then takes part in Saturday's Jersey Tournament; the Knights go to O'Fallon for the O'Fallon Invitational tournament Friday and Saturday.
