By Josh Staloch
Staff Writer
SUAMICO – The Pulaski volleyball team didn’t let a second-set hiccup derail its evening against Bay Port in a four-set, Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC) victory (25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 25-22) Sept. 30 at Bay Port High School.
With the win, the Red Raiders improved to 3-2 in the FRCC.
“We’ve been working hard knowing we can finish,” Pulaski Head Coach Bethani Thibodeau said. “We’re trying to stay aggressive and finish games we know we’re capable of winning. They’re growing mentally by leaps and bounds. They were focused tonight, and it was a total team effort. The things we’ve been working on in practice came through out there.”
All four frames were close.
The first set came down to Pulaski’s Jocelin Feutz and Bay Port’s Ella Engles trading shots at the net for a 23-23 tie.
A pair of unforced errors by the Pirates coming out of a timeout doomed the home team in the opener.
Bay Port, behind some powerful serving from Kyla Hendricks, jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set.
When Izzy Grace wasn’t powering kills through the defense at the net, she was putting touch shots onto the open floor, helping the Pirates jump out to a 22-14 lead.
Ellie McDermid also played a solid set upfront, tallying a couple of key points as Bay Port won the second frame by six points.
The third set was back-and-forth.
Following another Hendricks ace for a 13-8 Pirates lead, Thibodeau called a timeout to regroup her team.
The break in the action did the trick because it wasn’t long before Pulaski had a 15-14 advantage following three consecutive kills – two from Feutz and another from Jolee Klingeisen.
The Pirates tied it at 17, but the Red Raiders responded with four straight points and a 2-1 advantage.
Early in the fourth set, Feutz traded shots with Bay Port’s Ally Knutson and Engles.
The teams were even at 10 before a textbook set from Emily Bruss to Feutz for a kill that had no chance of being returned snapped the tie.
Pulaski’s Gianna Logue had some crucial points later in the set, including a kill shot for an 18-15 lead.
The Red Raiders closed out the match with a three-point victory in the fourth set.