Palo Verde tops Faith Lutheran in straight sets

About five minutes after the conclusion of Palo Verde’s volleyball game against Faith Lutheran, the Panthers’ public address announcer thanked the smatterings of fans dispersed throughout what at that point was a mostly empty gymnasium.

“Goodnight folks,” he said. “It’s been a great evening.”

Especially for Palo Verde.

The Panthers coasted to a 25-11, 25-23, 25-23 victory over the Crusaders on Tuesday night and have won two of their last three matches after stumbling in the Durango Fall Classic.

Palo Verde (13-9, 4-1 Northwest League) moved the ball and used a balanced offensive attack to carve apart Faith Lutheran (11-11, 3-2), which struggled to pass the ball consistently and now sits in third place — one spot behind the Panthers — in the Northwest League standings.

“We played really well and Faith made some errors that we were able to capitalize on in the first set,” Panthers coach Phil Clarke said. “That’s probably one of the harder things, win a set big and then get focused, because you naturally want to relax … In our division you cannot relax at all. We were able to hold on.”

Nikelle Fleming led Palo Verde with 10 kills. Riley Riddels and Arien Fafard had seven kills apiece. Fafard had 17 assists, and Mia Sadler added 14 assists for the Panthers, who built an early 8-3 lead in the first set.

The Crusaders responded in the second set, though, and took a 9-4 lead. But the Panthers stole back the momentum with an 11-1 run and held off Faith Lutheran’s late push for a second-set victory.

“We came into the second and third set thinking ‘We have this, it’s no problem,’” Riddels said. “That’s the thing with our team, once we let up and lose a few points, we’re able to get up again.”

Palo Verde nearly blew a lead in the third set, too, before forcing an error to complete its sweep.

“We have to focus on us, figure out what we have to do better,” Crusaders coach Amy Fisher said. “We have to pass. That’s the bottom line … It’s three matches in a row that our passing has been lacking. In the past, that has not been our issue. This year, it is. Every year is a new challenge.”

Sydney Washington led Faith Lutheran with nine kills. Tayah Washington added eight kills, and Logan Van Reken had 11 digs.