Black Hills tops Centralia in key EvCo matchup

Unforced errors cost Centralia in a key EvCo matchup on Tuesday night in Tumwater, where Black Hills topped the Tigers 25-16, 26-19, 25-13.

With the win, Black Hills (6-7, 4-3 2A EvCo) moves into the No. 2 spot in the EvCo, avoiding the pigtail, while Centralia (6-7, 3-4 2A EvCo) is just one game ahead of Aberdeen and W.F. West for third.

Centralia missed just one serve but combined for 29 hitting and serve receive errors.

“Those really hurt us,” Centralia coach Marti Smith said. “We just made it too easy for Black Hills’ offense to run. There were way too many free balls, so we were having to play a lot of defense, which made us out of system. We just couldn’t get anything going.”

The Wolves jumped out on top early, scoring ten of the game’s first 11 points, and then they ended the second set on a similar run to overcome an 18-15 deficit and take a 2-0 lead.

“We just couldn’t get anything in sync,” Smith said.

Smith said the third set was closer than the score suggests, as there were multiple long rallies, but at the end of the day, they didn’t go the Tigers way.

Kendall Guenther finished with five kills and two blocks, while Melissa Baine added four blocks and Ryleigh Butler tallied five kills.

Makenzie Erickson led the defense with 17 digs, Brooklyn Sprague added 12, and Logan Baker logged three kills. McKenna Smith recorded nine digs to go along with a pair of aces and kills.

Marti Smith gave credit to Guenther and Baine in the middle, saying they did “an amazing job” closing on the block.

“That was probably the best night we’ve had in touches at the net,” Marti Smith said. “I really thought our middles did a really great job at the net creating some problems for their hitters.”

The Tigers will host W.F. West on Thursday, and the Wolves will head across town to face Tumwater.