By John Leggett

The Courier-Herald

Sumner’s volleyball squad finally erased the zero on the W side of its ledger Sept. 22 as it snuffed out Yelm, claiming a 25-16, 25-11, 25-8 conquest over the Tornadoes.

The home match featured Kailey Smith recording 21 assists, Sidney Erickson and Brittany Reid combining for 16 kills and Janille Panula toiling for 16 digs and seven aces.

Sumner also played host Thursday against its old rival, Auburn Mountainview. The games resembled previous barnburners between the two postseason regulars.

Although the Lions swept the series 3-0, the two adversaries fought tooth and nail in the first pair of contests. In game one the Lions prevailed 25-23, while game two was played at the same fevered pitch, but the Lions pulled that one out as well, 26-24.

In game three Auburn Mountainview cranked it up yet another notch, winning 25-7.

“Both of these fine teams lost some great players to graduation last summer, so I expected these contests to be close,” said Momi Bowles, coach of the Lions. “We’ve been concentrating on putting forth a little extra effort in game three if we’re ahead 2-0, to kind of seal the deal, and I think that showed tonight.”

Even though Sumner dropped the match 3-0, the Spartans played well as a team, but additionally got some noteworthy individual performances out of Smith (18 assists) and Erickson (eight kills).

Sumner hosted Enumclaw Monday; results came too late to include here but will be posted at www.courierherald.com. Sumner travels to Olympia Thursday to challenge Capital High in a nonleague affair and will visit Enumclaw at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday for a rematch.

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