Volleyball: Southridge suffers first loss

Southridge at LaGrande tourney: A turned ankle in warmups for the semifinals turned into the first defeat of the season Saturday for the Suns, who lost 25-21, 21-25, 15-13 to Nyssa in the semifinals with setter Kylie Fraga sitting out.

Coach John Lengphounpraseaut said Fraga suffered a sprain, but he expects her back for Tuesday’s match with Kennewick. Without any of the JV setters making the trip, Suns libero Makenna Behrens was pressed into duty and dished out 18 assists in the loss.

“We were cruising. No one could compete with us,” said Lengphounpraseaut, whose team swept all four matches of pool play.

“It’s good that we lost that match,”he added. “I’m not so disappointed. If we keep winning from here on out, I don’t want to go to state undefeated, and this loss doesn’t cost us anything.”

Kimberly Brinkworth and Jordan Mix each had 35 kills on the day for the Suns (15-1). Behrens had 45 digs and 20 aces.

Southridge—Kimberly Brinkworth 35 kills, 15 blocks; Jordan Mix 35 kills, 17 digs; Alyssa Palmer 24 kills, 20 digs; Maddisen McNeill 7 kills, 5 digs, 10 blocks; Paige Thompson 10 kills, 9 blocks; Makenna Behrens 45 digs, 20 aces; Kylie Fraga 72 assists, 11 aces; Rylee Russell 21 digs, 9 aces.

This story was originally published September 28, 2013 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Volleyball: Southridge suffers first loss."