Cobras rattle out another district win

By Millie Diaz

    Industrial Cobras (20-7, 2-0) swept their second district game against Boling in three sets to zero, despite some of their big players fighting off illness. 

    Joy Scroeder, Savhannah Kitchens and Brooke Williams weren't feeling well today, but were still able to help their team in short spurts. Other members of the Cobras realized it was time to step up. 

    The game started with a long rally in the first point, and Boling put two points on the board before Cobra freshman Kylann Griffith made a kill landing in the middle back of Bulldog territory. Sophomore Maddison Heibel served an ace and sophomore Denae Brown landed a kill in mid-court to bring the score to 4-3.

    Boling was able to tie the score to 4 all, but a series of errors from them allowed the Cobras to make a small score run and bring their score up to 8-5. Bulldog senior Brianna Grays executed two kills that raised her team's score, but soon after Industrial hit a much larger score run that brought the score to 17-8.

    Kills by Savhannah Kitchens and Heibel helped were part of that rise. 

    Boling was only able to bring their score to 14 before Heibel placed a tip in the middle of Boling's side to win the first set. Griffith scored two points back to back with a tip and a kill, and Kitchens continued her kill streak to help that first win. 

    Industrial began the second set with six points while Boling was able to earn one point, but by then the Cobras worked to lengthen that lead. Boling couldn't catch up, although they seemed to work harder to find gaps on the Cobra court. 

    Brown had a tip and a couple of notable kills, as did Kitchens. Junior Sarah Kusak found the net for a strong block as well.

    At 24-20 in Cobra's favor in the second set Boling pushed through to give a good rally in the last point, but it wasn't enough due the early lead by Industrial.

    In the third set both teams were even for the first four points, but once again Industrial pushed through to gain a lead. Schroeder stepped in from the sidelines and made some kills and blocks to strengthen a score run late in the game. Boling's defense grew weak and was only able to score 12 points in the third set. 

    The junior varsity Cobras won in two sets, 25-16 and 25-9, and the freshman team lost in two sets, 26-24 and 25-16.

    Cobra varsity stats: Denae Brown- 5 kills,  1 assist; Kylann Griffith- 8 kills, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 digs; Maddison Heibel-6 kills,  23 assists, 6 digs, 2 aces; Savhannah Kitchens- 11 kills, 2 digs, 3 aces; Sarah Kusak-4 kills,  4 digs, 1 ace; Skylar Lenamon- 3 assists, 8 digs; Lexey Mikulec- 5 digs; Joy Schroeder- 3 kills, 1 block; Brooke Williams- 1 kill,  2 digs,