By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

It took a while, but the seventh-seed Centre volleyball team celebrated its first win of the season Saturday in two games against sixth-seed Sterling at Marion’s Spikefest tournament.

The victory came in the third match of pool play after losing to second-seed Eureka and third-seed Halstead in two games each.

After trailing for a while in the first game, the Cougars caught up to Sterling at the 15-point mark. They continued neck and neck until, after a 21-21 tie, they surged ahead to win, 25-21.

The victory seemed to inspire the Cougars, as they came out excited to play in the second game and led the entire time. After a 6-0 start, they led by as much as 13 points before winning the game, 25-17.

They played Lyons in the consolation match, losing in two sets, 19-25 and 12-25, and finishing the tournament in sixth place.

The team lost to Wakefield 24-26 and 25-20 and Solomon 16-25 and 21-25 earlier in the week.

In their winning game Saturday, Samantha Espinoza served for 12 points, and her sister, Alyssa, served for 10. Emily Silhan led at the net with 13 of 14 sets and 10 assists. Alyssa was leading hitter with nine spikes and two kills, followed by Samantha and Cailey Barney, nine spikes and three kills each.

“We’ve done a lot of learning and growing this year,” coach Karen Nickel said. “The girls are learning positions and learning to trust others to do what they need to do. We have no leaders, just teamwork.”