PHOTOS BY RACHEL NAGEL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
EDGERTON SENIOR … Ava Swank sets the ball for teammate Kaitlyn Burke during the Bulldogs win at Delta.
HITTING ATTEMPT … Delta’s Claire Bates takes a swing going for one of her 17 kills on the night.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
DELTA (August 19, 2025) – The Edgerton Bulldogs took on the Delta Panthers in girls’ volleyball Tuesday night and left with a 3-1 win in Delta.
The teams battled it out as play began, with the Panthers putting together a three-point run including a block and a spike from Delta senior Claire Bates.
The Bulldogs came up with their own four-point run to tie the set at 10. Edgerton’s run comprised a kill and an unreturned serve from junior Kaitlyn Burke and a pair of kills by senior Alivia Farnham.
Edgerton’s play kicked up a notch, and they put together two three-point runs and another four-point run to bring the score to 24-17.
Another kill – this time on a tip – and an unreturned serve from Burke was joined by good blocking, Delta faults, and an unreturned serve from senior Olivia Wallace helped along the way.
The Panthers fought back with a kill of their own from senior Bridget Whitaker, but after a spike landed out of bounds for another Panther point, the Bulldogs blocked a spike attempt from Whitaker and took the victory in the first set, 25-19.
If the first set was a hard-fought victory, the second was a pitched battle, with the two teams tying the score 13 times.
On the way to the first solid lead of the set, Delta capitalized on Edgerton’s errors, putting together a six-point run to come from behind to a four-point lead at 16-12.
A fault, a pair of out-of-bounds shots, and failure to recover after bouncing the ball off a rafter from the Bulldogs aided the Panthers.
Edgerton made its own three- and four-point runs to take back the momentum, this time including multiple faults from Delta, as well as kills from Farnham and senior Ava Giesige.
The teams tied at 21 before the last point in the run, an unreturned serve from senior Ava Swank.
After tying at 21, the teams went on a single-point war, tying again at every point up to 27, when an unreturned serve from senior Ellie Martinez and a spike from senior Claire Bates brought in the 29-27 victory for the Panthers.
Set three began slowly, with the Bulldogs slowly pushing their lead to 11-6 before a pair of errors and an unreturned serve from Delta gained the Panthers some ground, and another pair of errors put the score at 12-11, which is as close to the lead as they would get for the remainder of the set.
A six-point run, including a pair of blocks as well as a spike and two tips from Farnham, gave Edgerton a seven-point lead.
Delta tried to fight back, including a kill from Bates and a blocked shot, but they couldn’t overtake the Bulldogs, who took the third set 25-16.
The fourth set played out much like the first, with neither team putting together a run of more than three points as Edgerton slowly increased its lead after a brief Delta lead at the very beginning.
Standout action came in the form of a shot through Bulldog blockers by Delta freshman Willa Rosene, a huge spike for Edgerton from Farnham, and quite a few net faults and unreturned serves alike from both teams.
The Panthers fought back to just a three-point deficit late in the set at 18-15 and again at 21-18, but were unable to gain any more ground, and a Panther spike by Bates was matched by an out-of-bounds hit and two out-of-bounds serves before the final point brought the set to an end at 25-19 and the match to at end at 3-1.
Edgerton d. Delta, 25-19, 27-29, 25-16, 25-19
Edgerton (2-0): Alivia Farnham – 59/62 hitting, 18 kills; Ava Swank – 20/22 serves, 5 aces, 100/100 setting, 32 assists
Delta (2-1): Claire Bates – 27/32 hitting, 17 kills; Serenity Tedrick 24 digs; Ellie Martinez 57/60 setting, 20 assists
