Petrolia knocks Bryson from ship in straight sets Saturday

BRYSON – In a flat performance throughout, the host Cowgirl volleyball team never would gain ground on visiting Petrolia but never let them pull away either in a 26-24, 25-22, 25-20 win for the visitors Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore Tracy Hauger staked the Cowgirls to a 2-0 lead in the opener only to have the Lady Pirates take a 4-3 lead. Classmate Riley Valliant served up a 5-4 lead and then broke serve with a kill after a lengthy Petrolia serving run gave the visitors an 11-7 cushion.

A Windsor Godfrey single and four straight from Hauger cut the lead to 15-16 and forced a timeout.Valliant served up a pair, one of the points thrown down by a kill to retake the lead at 18-17. Petrolia went up 20-19 before a two-point serving string from Rachel Robinson forced another Petrolia timeout down 20-22.

The Lady Pirates held tough and, despite Godfrey kills at 23 and 24-all, managed to pull out the game one win.

Bryson again fell behind early but used serving points by Robinson and Emery Fisher to take an 8-6 lead in game two. Godfrey and Hauger’s deuces of serving points put the hostesses up 14- 8. The timeout worked as Petrolia went up 17-16.

The Cowgirls went up 18-17 and 19-18 thanks to kills from Valliant and Godfrey and ties at 20 and 21 but it wouldn’t be enough as Petrolia eventually pulled away.

The visitors jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the daycap but a Valliant block and Victoria Goodman’s point cut the deficit to one.

Hanna Perez’s dink set the stage for a four-point Valliant string to take a 9-8 lead. Emery Fisher’s serving point, thrown down by a Perez kill put the squad ahead 11-9. Godfrey then brought Bryson back from a 10-12 deficit with a three-point serving string.

Bryson’s last tie would be at 17 before Petrolia rolled off four straight and held off the hostesses from there to end the 75-minute contest.