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The Columbus Lady Cardinals improved their district record to 11-0 after defeating the Tidehaven Tigers in three straight sets Friday night in Columbus.
The Lady Cardinals big three of Ally Tribe, Sage Thomas and Caylie Neisner had a big game on Friday but it was the contributions from Ember Mandola, Claire Klausmeyer, Gracie Schobel and Taylor Morrow that made the difference.
Tribe has been known to rack up a ton of kills throughout a match and picked up 18 Friday night against Tidehaven. But to help shoulder the load Mandola, Klausmeyer, Schobel and Morrow attacked the net with an undeniable passion to score. Their efforts paid off as the Lady Cards’ depth as well as their senior and veteran leadership was on full display.
The Lady Cards are ranked 2nd in the State for Volleyball, and they proved why Friday night. The first set was an allout attack from the Lady Cards. They smothered and overwhelmed Tidehaven’s defense as they ran up the score early.
Attacks on the ball were coming from all angles with Mandola, Klausmeyer, Schobel and Morrow taking a lot of attention away from Tribe and keeping the Tigers guessing every time the ball was set in the air by Thomas.
The Lady Cards cruised to a 25-7 win in the first set over the Tigers and set the tone for the rest of the match. The second set followed the same theme as the first as the Lady Cards continued to hum on offense.
The Tigers had no answer for the potent Lady Cards offense as Thomas stacked assists while her teammates took advantage of the balls Thomas set up. The Lady Cards again kept the Tigers under 10 points in the second set and went up two sets to zero looking to close out the match.
Mandola, Klausmeyer, Schobel and Morrow were able to shine brightly in the third set to close the game out and extend their winning streak to 15 games. The quartet closed out the game effectively by a score of 2516 before the celebration with their teammates ensued.
The Lady Cards are currently in first place in the district and one game ahead of Yoakum as the race to clinch first place in the district continues.
The Lady Cards have a game against Palacios in Palacios on Tuesday, Oct. 17, before coming back to home court to go toe-totoe with Yoakum on Friday, Oct. 20 in a battle for first place in the district.
