By Kellie Caparula
Sports Editor
10-22-2009

In its last home match of the season, the Owens Valley volleyball team fell 3-1 to Immanuel Christian in a hard-fought match Tuesday.
Strong serving and hustle kept the Lady Cubs in the match.
In game one, Owens Valley fell behind, but fought back to score 5 straight points. But the Lady Crusaders got back on track and won 25-18.
The Cubs again fell behind in game two, but strong serving from Jessica Curse gave the Cubs a 7-4 lead.
“She’s (Jessica Cruise) our really strong server,” said Owens Valley volleyball head coach Ashley Lowe said.
But Immanuel Christian fought back with a little strong serving of its own. The Lady Crusaders won game two 25-13.
Immanuel Christian stayed hot at the start of game 3 as the Lady Crusaders went ahead 9-0.
The Lady Cubs did not quit and cut Immanuel Christian’s lead to 10-5 again with strong serving from Cruise. A hard kill from Kelly Greene gave the Lady Cubs their sixth point and cut the Lady Crusader lead to 4.
Immanuel Christian used good serves and hitting to go up 18-11.
But strong serving from Cruise helped the Lady Cubs cut the lead to 1.
Then Owens Valley tied the game at 21. The Lady Cubs went up 24-21 and the Lady Crusaders called a timeout.
Lowe used the timeout to congratulate her team and keep them focused on getting the game point.
“They were real excited with how hard they were pushing themselves. I said nothing but to complement them,” Lowe said.
Owens Valley got the game point after Immanuel Christian hit the ball into the net.
The Lady Cubs jumped ahead in 4-0 in game 4. The fourth point came off a serve from Maria Martinez.
But Immanuel Christian came back and the two teams traded leads.
After a few long rallies and strong serving from the Lady Crusaders came out ahead 25-20.
The Lady Cubs will be in action again this weekend when they play at Baker Friday and travel to Death Valley Saturday.