Leyton volleyball wins tourney

BRIDGEPORT – Despite arriving home late from Wallace on Friday night after defeating the Wildcats (5-3) in four sets, the Leyton Lady Warriors showed no ill effects as they cruised to victory in the four-team Bridgeport Tournament the following morning.

The Warriors upped their season mark to 8-1 after straight-set victories over Bayard (2-5), Perkins County (2-8) and host Bridgeport (7-4) – all of which play in Class C2 District 12.

Less than 12 hours after arriving home from Wallace, the Warriors were back on the court to defeat the Bayard Lady Tigers 25-18 and 25-20. Leyton then handled the Lady Plainsmen of Perkins County 25-17 and 28-26.

In their final match, the Warriors turned back the host Lady Bulldogs for the championship 25-22, 25-16.

"I know Bridgeport is very strong, but we were able to stay on the offensive and attack the ball," said Warriors' head coach Jodi Craig. "Bridgeport is very quick, but I think our height was an advantage today. We knew we would have our hands full in this tournament, so we're very pleased to come away with the wins."

The Warriors strong net presence in the tournament was boosted by setter Taylor Berner's 64 assists. She had a high of 25 helpers against Bayard.

Leyton led from start-to-finish in the first set against the Lady Tigers before a close battle characterized the second set.

The Dalton gang survived 10 ties in set two before scoring six of the final seven points to pull out the win. The final draw was at 19-19 before kills by Berner, Natalie Cruise and a block by Diedra Waite helped sealed the Tigers' fate.

Cheyenne Nickel had five kills to lead the Warriors in their opening match. Kristine Barnett and Waite each had four. Waite had three blocks and Nickel two. Cruise had 14 digs, while Barnett and Waite reached double figures with 10.

"I'm really proud of the team especially after the long night in Wallace," Barnett said. "We were communicating very well and we've been working a lot in practice on our defense and it looks like the work paid off for us today."

A tight match opened up against Perkins County before kills by Katie Higgins, Waite and Nickel put the momentum on Leyton's side. Another block by Waite produced the Warriors' largest lead at 24-15 before Barnett ended the affair two points later with a hard kill to the back line.

Nine consecutive ties between 4-4 and 12-12 were an indication of how close the Plainsmen and Warriors battled in the second set. In all, there were 17 ties before Nickel drove home the winning point.

Nickel paced a balanced scoring attack against the Lady Plainsmen with seven kills while Cruise, Barnett and Waite each had five. Waite did not make an error at the service line in 10 attempts while Cruise and Hope Dykman were each perfect in nine attempts.

Defensively, Waite added six more blocks with Higgins and Nickel each getting four. Barnett had 22 digs and Waite 14.

Like their previous two matches, Letyon fought Bridgeport close throughout the opening set. The two teams were tied at late as 22-22 before the Warriors scored the final three points. Barnett served out the final points for victory.

With Berner serving, the Warriors took a 3-0 lead in set two before Bridgeport tied the matter at 4-4 and 5-5. Cruise then served Leyton to a lead which they never relinquished.Leyton was ahead by as many as 11 points before securing the nine-point win on a Waite kill.

Five kills each by Cruise and Nickel topped the Warriors in the championship match. Waite added four kills and three blocks to her strong net play. Berner also had a pair of blocks. Cruise (18 digs) and Barnett (16 digs) helped the cause as well.

"We've been working on our covering and that helped us today," Higgins said. "This really boosts our confidence because we know now we can stay with those really good teams."

Leyton will travel to Oshkosh on Tuesday for a triangular beginning at 5:30 p.m.