(Oakland) A Class 1A Regional Volleyball Semifinal comes your way Monday on KSOM. 23-13 Riverside is hosting 14th ranked and 25-10 Tri-Center.
Riverside advanced to this match with a 25-13, 25-20, 25-21 win over Boyer Valley, avenging a regular season loss. It was the Lady Dawg’s 5th straight win. Coach Brooke Flathers says, “The girls have just dug in. People have commented at school or around the community. We just hit a turning point where we are playing much better than we were at the beginning of the season. The girls have bought in and we’re ready to grind it out and see what we can do.”
Setter Ayla Richardson has been vital to the team’s accomplishments this season. The freshman has 513 assists. “It was really exciting for her to reach that milestone. Not only is she a freshman, but we ran a 6-2 for the first part of our season too. For her to reach that many assists is pretty incredible and then when you also consider she’s never set before this year. She came in this summer and she just has good hands and athletic ability. We were going to put her in that spot and see what she could do and she’s thrived because she’s committed to it.”
Junior Veronica Andrusyshyn leads the team with 301 kills. “She’s definitely committed to putting the ball down. She’s a kid that goes up when she hits and she’s looking for that kill shot. She’s looking to make a play on every ball.”
Izzy Bluml has 205 kills and 177 digs on the year. “Izzy is a great leader. She leads by example. She just does her job at all times. As far as hitting goes she has a mixed bag of different shots she can make.”
Riverside is 0-2 against Tri-Center this season. “They are a good team. Amy (Wingert) does a good job of putting their team together every year. We are just going to take care of what we can control on our side do what we know how to. We are going to come out and scrap and come out swinging.”
The winner of this match advances to a Regional Final on Wednesday against either #8 St. Albert or Sidney.
Riverside coach Brooke Flathers:
