The Sioux County Warriors swept the Crawford Rams Friday, dominating the Rams in the final two sets after Crawford challenged them early.
The Warriors survived a tough first set 25-22 and rolled through the final two with a pair of 25-14 victories.
Crawford led 10-7 in the opening set but an attacking error and a missed serve, along with kills by Sioux County’s Sierra and Tamika Eastman made it 12-11. Tamika Eastman then landed an ace serve to tie the contest. The Rams edged ahead again with a kill by Keslyn Vogel, but two ace serves by Kaylee Juhnke put the Warriors back in the lead. The Rams’ Carly Lemmon pounded out three ace serves late in the set to take a 19-18 advantage, and the teams battled it out for the next several points. After ties at 19, 20 and 21, Sioux County went ahead 23-21 on a Sierra Eastman ace and a Juhnke kill. Tamika Eastman closed the set with a kill.
The Rams and Warriors traded points again early in the second, tying the score at every point through nine before Sioux County was able to inch ahead 11-9. A 5-0 run by the Warriors that included a Juhnke kill and an ace by Britney Klein lifted Sioux County to a 17-10 edge. Another 6-0 run with three aces by Tamika Eastman and a kill by Juhnke put the game out of reach at 23-11, and Sierra Eastman sealed the set with a block.
The final set belonged to the Warriors from the outset as they opened with a 4-0 run. Crawford came back to tie the contest at five but the Warriors went ahead 6-5 on a kill by Becca Reece and maintained the advantage to take the sweep.
Sioux County outhit Crawford 20 kills to 11 and landed 15 ace serves compared to the Rams’ nine.