SJEL climbs RPI leader board with win against Colton Wildcats

ST. JOHN — As the fall volleyball season draws to a close in Whitman County, the St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse (SJEL) Eagles are making a push for a high ranking finish in districts.

The Eagles played their only game for the week on Thursday, Oct. 5, a match against the Colton Wildcats.

The game was played in Colton.

On the day, the Eagles would get the better of the Wildcats, winning the game in three straight sets.

The Eagles are now 7-1 in league play and second overall, just behind the Oakesdale Nighthawks, who are 9-0.

With the loss, the Wildcats are now 4-4 in league play, and are currently 42nd in the RPI standings for the WIAA 1B division, SJEL is fourth.

In the first set of this game, the Eagles took an early 11-6 lead, before quickly pushing the lead to 17-9.

The Eagles would go on to win the first set 25-10.

The second set saw SJEL lead from start-to-finish. They took an early 10-6 lead before stretching it to 15-7 before Colton would take a timeout.

After the timeout, the Eagles went on a strong serving run, leading 21-12, before eventually winning the set 25-14.

The third set was the closest set of all three in the game. SJEL took the 5-3 lead, then went to 11-6 before the Wildcats went on a run, still trailing 19-12.

After a few errors from the Eagles, Colton got to 18 points, but it was not enough, and they fell 25-18 to lose in straight sets to the Eagles.

For Colton, Kaydee Heitstuman had two kills, one assist and one dig for the Wildcats. Kyndra Stout led the way with three kills for Colton.

On the Eagles side, Kaitlyn Hough led with 10 kills, nine digs, and two blocks. Hough also received 12 serves with zero errors.

Outside hitter Emery Molina had eight kills and five digs for SJEL.

Setter Julia Guske had 20 assists in the game.