(Avoca) -- Riverside started slow, but finished fast in a thrilling, five-set victory over AHSTW Thursday night in a game heard on KMA 960.
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"I thought we did a good job once we settled in," Coach Brooke Flathers said of her team's five-set (12-25, 25-19, 25-15, 16-25, 15-5) victory that moves them to 2-0 in Western Iowa Conference action.
The Bulldogs' lackadaisical start led to a 25-12 defeat in the first set. They rebounded smoothly in a second set that featured seven ties. Riverside scored seven of the final eight points in the second set to take it 25-19 and even the match at a set apiece.
"We kinda went back to basics," Flathers said. "We need to swing, put the ball in play and play our game instead of letting them control our game."
In the third set, Riverside overcame an early 3-0 deficit by scoring 13 of the next 16 points on their way to the 25-15 victory to take a 2-1 lead.
AHSTW stormed back in the fourth set to keep the match alive, once again scoring the first three points of the set. They kept the lead this time and forced a fifth-set courtesy of a 25-16 victory.
While it looked as if momentum may be on the home team's side, Riverside started the final set in lightning-fast fashion, racing to a 7-2 lead. The Bulldogs then closed the match with the final three points thanks to some stellar blocking from the frontline of Kenna Ford, Ella Hensley and Izzy Bluml, which capped the dominant fifth set.
"We talk in practice a lot about playing little games," Flathers said. "So we just played little games to five and took care of the ball."
Riverside was paced Thursday night by a balanced offense, led by Hensley, who posted a team-high 15 kills.
"We just got a little more calmed down," Hensley said of their victory. "We just focused better."
Hensley, along with Bluml and Veronica Andrusyshyn pioneered Riverside's offense. Bluml added 10 kills and 14 digs while Andrusyshyn posted nine kills and four digs.
"It's nice having a variety," Hensley said.
"We are really fortunate this year," Flathers said. "We have a lot of different kids we can go to. Those three definitely stepped up for us."
The successes of Hensley, Bluml and Andrusyshyn came in large part because of Ford, who posted 36 assists.
Defensively, four Bulldogs finished the evening with double-digit digs. Libero Ari McGlade led the way with 15 while Bluml, Ford and Madi Baldwin added 14, 13 and 12 respectively. Bluml also served four aces.
AHSTW was paced in the defeat by eight kills from Halle Hall. Kailey Jones and Megan Wise contributed seven and five kills respectively. The loss drops the Lady Vikes to 1-7 overall and 0-3 in Western Iowa Conference action. They will resume action Saturday at the West Harrison Tournament.
Riverside is now 11-4 overall and 2-0 in WIC action. Their quest to a conference title meets another hurdle Tuesday when they face Logan-Magnolia, who lost to Treynor Thursday night.
"We're going to come out and practice hard," Flathers said. "We talk about competing in practice a lot. We're going to treat every practice like it's a match, and get better."
The complete interviews with Hensley and Coach Flathers can be viewed below.
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Riverside overcomes shaky start, downs AHSTW in five - KMAland
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