Eagles knock off Knights at home

ST. JOHN - The St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse Eagles opened their district run with a three-set sweep over the Sunnyside Christian Knights.

The game took place in St. John and was played on Monday, Oct. 30.

Set scores in the match were all in favor of the Eagles: 25-12, 25-18, 25-12.

The Eagles started the first set with a 5-1 lead before quickly jumping out to a 15-8 lead.

The Knights called a timeout to regroup after trailing 20-9 in the set. The Eagles used the timeout to their advantage, and won the set 25-12.

The second set was the closest of the three. The game was tied at five, then the Knights took a three-point lead before St. John called their timeout.

The Eagles bounced back to tie the set at 13 before leading 18-14 before the Knights timeout.

After the timeout the Eagles would take the second set 25-18.

In the third the Eagles had an early 11-5 lead. St. John then took a 20-10 lead before the Knights took their final timeout in the match. The Eagles would go on to take the set 25-14, sweeping Sunnyside Christian in their opening district game.

Emery Molina led the way with 10 kills for the Eagles. Lyla Kjack had five aces, and Kenzie Stanley had six blocks in the match.

With the win the Eagles will take on the Liberty Christian Patriots on Thursday, Nov. 2. The match will take place in Richland and is set to start at 6 p.m.

Should the Eagles win the match against the Patriots, they will play for the district championship on Saturday, Nov. 4 against the winner of the Oakesdale and DeSales game, also played on Thursday, Nov. 4.

If the Eagles win their match Thursday they will also be automatically qualified for the state tournament, taking place Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 8-9. If the Eagles are defeated Thursday, Nov. 2, they will play a winner-to-state match on Saturday, Nov. 4. All games played on Saturday will take place at Dayton high school.