Hot Springs beats Two Eagle River
HOT SPRINGS – The Hot Springs Lady Savage Heat took care of business on the road last weekend earning a victory after a tough five set match against Two Eagle River.
On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 6, the ladies of the Hot Springs volleyball team dropped the first set of the night to the Two Eagle River Eagles by a score of 27-29.
Following the opening set defeat; the Hot Springs girls rallied and swept the final three sets of the evening’s match to ensure a hard fought road victory.
“The team has played really well this year,” Hot Springs Head Coach Alisha Pablo said.
The Lady Savage Heat took the second set of the night by a score of 27-25 and the third set by a score of 25-23.
The two wins by Hot Springs set up the pivotal fourth set against Two Eagle River and the Savage Heat were again able to prevail, winning the final set by a score of 25-18 to close out the night and ensure their victory.
Pablo said a large part of the team’s success can be traced back to their strength in the serving portion of the game.
“Our service was really good on Saturday,” Pablo said.
Pablo added collectively the team served at a rate of 83 percent and had a 75 percent rate of serves received.
This year’s edition of the Lady Savage Heat is a young group with several players playing competitive volleyball for the first time.
Nonetheless, the team does have some veteran leadership to draw off of with two seniors hitting the floor throughout the season.
Seniors Josey Carr and Amanda Locker will provide the veteran leadership for the young Hot Springs volleyball team as the season progresses.
According to Coach Pablo the team’s relative inexperience has altered her approach to practices.
“We are sticking with the basics for now. We want to make sure we cover those before moving on,” Pablo said.
So far it appears to be working out for Hot Springs and though Pablo noted the team encountered a few scenarios they haven’t practiced before during Saturday’s match they were able to overcome those challenges.
After their strong early season performance Pablo is not very worried about her team’s ability to pick up the finer points of the sport.
“I think the team will be quick learners,” Pablo said.
Despite their early season success Pablo acknowledges the team still has a few things to work on.
The coach emphasized the importance of play at the net.
“Net play is definitely a focus. We are not a very tall team but we are going to work on using some strategies to counter that,” Pablo said.
The win comes after a Hot Springs loss against the St. Regis Tigers earlier in the week.
On Thursday, Sept. 4 the Lady Savage Heat fell to the Tigers in three sets by scores of 17-25, 13-25 and 24-26.
Hot Springs next game will be on the road against the Noxon Lady Red Devils on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.