DAYTON–Last week's volleyball matches were both three-set losses for the Dayton-Waitsburg Lady Wolfpack volleyball squad.

DW is now 0-6 overall, 0-5 in league, and has a break in the schedule this week before hosting River View in Dayton on Monday, October 11, first serve at 6:30 p.m.

That's the start of a busy week for the Lady Wolfpack as they turn right around and play challenging WWVA the next night, Tuesday, Oct. 12 in College Place. Then it's back home Thursday, Oct. 14 for a Homecoming-week contest against Columbia-Burbank, game time 6:30 p.m.

TriCities Prep had the upper hand on the Lady Wolfpack throughout the match on September 30 in Dayton. Set scores were 9-25, 9-25, 16-25.

"I am proud of these girls for making the best of a messy situation," observed Head Coach Tracy Barron. "Between injuries and illness, we were missing some of our key players. These girls adjusted, playing spots on the court that they had never played before. Trista Villaro really stepped up tonight and helped our team."

Standing out for the Lady Wolfpack was Makenna Barron, who was strong at the net for Dayton-Waitsburg, rejecting three TCP kills, making three kills herself, coming up with four digs and serving 100%.

Lady Wolfpack teammates Emily Rodrick and Kylee Henry also put up some good stats. Rodrick nailed two kills, made five assists and served two aces. Henry hammered two kills as well, blocked one, had two assists and a single ace.

-Chronicle photo by Dominic Truesdale

Wolfpack junior Emily Rodrick keeps her eye on the ball in action from Dayton-Waitsburg's match against TriCities Prep last week. The varsity was coping with illness and injuries, players filling positions never played before, and pushing through their difficulties.

At Warden on September 28, the Lady Wolfpack were more competitive against the Lady Cougars, but still couldn't get over center, losing in three sets, 13-25, 19-25, 14-25.

Again, the Lady Wolfpack was battling adversity within its ranks.

"Claudia Benavides really stepped up for the team tonight," commented Barron. "She came in off the bench and played middle hitter after Peyton Struckmeier went down with a badly sprained ankle. The whole team came together to make the best of a hard situation."

Standouts in the match for the Lady Wolfpack were Barron and senior middle hitter Megan Forney, both players' numbers showing how much Dayton-Waitsburg was on defense against an attacking Lady Cougar squad.

Barron put up six blocks at the net and hit one kill at the Lady Cougars. Forney had one block and one kill, and four digs.