It was a bit of an up-and-down night for the Box Elder High School volleyball team last Thursday when they earned a five-set win (25-21, 18-25, 25-9, 18-25, 15-7) over the Preston (Idaho) High School Indians.

“We had a roller coaster ride,” said Bees head coach Kristine Harding.

The three wins were the result of a “hitting clinic” put on by Jane Anderson and Stacee Burt, while the losses were a combination of the Indian’s adjustments on offense, and the Bees’ struggles with on-court communication.

“Our middles didn’t really connect well with our hitters,” said Harding. “Our sets in the middle weren’t quite there.” Which, she added later, is a hard thing for her team. “We have to establish our middles to get everything else going. Luckily, our outsides were on fire.”

Anderson had a team-leading 13 kills in the game, while Burt had six. But what Burt lacked in numbers, she more than made up for in “wow factor.”

“Stacee brings the power,” said Harding, and Burt’s hard spikes often helped energize fans and her teammates.

For example, in the second set, the Indians had turned an early 4-4 tie into an eight-point lead, 13-21 thanks largely to sets from the Bees that dropped in their side of the court due to miscommuniucation of plays.

But a huge kill from Burt helped rally the Bees to four straight points, and avoid a score like the one Box Elder recorded in the third set win.

The third set was a different beast altogether as the Bees recorded eight points off aces.

Setter Jessica Adams started off the set with two aces on three serves as the Bees stormed to a 4-0 lead. Libero Lacey Farley recorded one of her four aces in the game in the third set and the Indians had trouble getting good passes from her hard serves. With Farley serving, the Bees recorded two blocks and a kill as they stormed to a 9-1 lead.

Anderson, too, got in on the action from the service line, recording three aces with serves that the Indians thought were short, but just slipped over the net, and advancing the Box Elder lead, 13-3, and an eventual 25-9 rout.

The middles, Sommer Reeder and Katie Vincent, did block well throughout the game, but no better than in the first set when the Indians were “swinging away” at sets and providing easy targets to block. The Bees had five kill blocks in the first set. Sommer and Vincent combined for 11 blocks in the game.

In the second set, the Indians adjusted their mentality, and the Bees couldn’t adjust quick enough to turn the tide.

“They stopped swinging away and got some shots on us,” said Harding. Twice in the game, the Indians would record five or six straight points before the Bees made the necessary adjustments, which prompted Harding to say that quicker defensive adjustments are a key for her team.

Overall, Harding said she’s pleased with the constant improvement she’s seen from her team each game, noting that even though the Bees swept Bear River, her team had fewer unforced errors this week.

“Every match this group of girls play better...more consistently together,” she said.

BEHS stats: Jessica Adams-16 set assists, 3 kills, 2 aces, 6 digs; Allie Ewing- 6 set assists; Miranda Stokes - 6 set assists, 1 ace, 3 digs; Jane Anderson- 13 kills, 1 block assist-1 solo block; 3 aces, 11 digs; Stacee Burt - 6 kills, 2 block assists, 4 digs; Sommer Reeder - 6 kills, 5 block assists-1 block solo; Katie Vincent - 3 kills, 5 block assists; Janelle Beukers - 4 kills, 5 block assists; Rachel Kennedy - 2 aces; Lacey Farley - 4 aces, 9 digs