(Oakland) Riverside went to a regional volleyball final last year and would love to follow that up with another deep run this season.
We’ll have the Lady Dawgs in their postseason opener on the air Monday night when they host Exira-EHK. Coach Brooke Flathers believes her team is peaking right now. “I do. We’ve kind of used this season, especially with everything thrown out us with COVID, it’s been a process of learning where people need to be. I think we finally have kids in positions that will help make them and us as successful as we can be. It was great seeing them compete against Tri-Center in the first round of the WIC Tournament. We ended up losing, but that was probably some of the best volleyball we’ve played all season.”
Even though not all the personnel is the same, they’ll try to draw from their experience in the regional tourney. “Last year was our first taste of a deep run, so you wonder about being prepared for the pressure and environment. I would say that’s definitely a benefit for us is that almost all of our kids on the roster have played in that type of an environment where you have to come out and perform or your season is going to be done so that’s a definite benefit for us and a motivator.”
Riverside has counted on big contributions from a lot of different players throughout the season. Kenna Ford has 422 assists. Izzy Bluml and Veronica Andrusyshyn are each over 130 kills on the year. Ari McGlade leads the team with 184 digs. Madi Baldwin, Carly Henderson, Mack Olmstead-Mitchell, and Ella Hensley have all made solid contributions as well.
The 14-11 Lady Dawgs will open up with Exira-EHK. They’ve already swept the Spartans twice this year.
