When Twin Cedars played host to Eddyville-Blakesburg Thursday night in volleyball, the game was billed as a battle between two outstanding volleyball players.

Eddyville-Blakesburg senior Lacey Alexander and Twin Cedars junior Lindsay Hoehns both have all-state credentials and both displayed those talents.

But on this night Hoehns had the stronger supporting cast and the Sabers took the four-game match by scores of 26-24, 27-25, 22-25 and 25-23.

Although the games were close, it was a ragged match with lots of service and hitting errors as well as floor violations.

Eddyville-Blakesburg coach Gladys Genskow saw way too many errors.

“We are very young and inexperienced,” Genskow said. “We just had too many errors and basically we beat ourselves. We have a lot to work on, but it is 99 percent correctable. We need to be more aggressive and develop a take charge attitude. And I am sure that we will show improvement with each match.”

The Sabers set the Rockets on their heels early as they jumped out to an 11-4 lead with many of the points coming from errors. Hoehns did have a kill and two ace serves in the run. The Rockets tried to play catch up and finally pulled into the lead and were a point away from taking the game.

Truleigh Van Dorin stepped to the service line with her team trailing by three points served up five points to get the lead. But the Rockets were unable to seal the deal as Hoehns hammered down a kill to get the serve back and Megan Alger served up the next three points for the win. Alger had an ace in the run and Hoehns end the game with a thunder kill.

In game two, the Rockets took an early 7-4 lead behind the serving of Whitley Schertz and Catlin Reed. But the Sabers took the lead back at 16-12 on a five-point service run by Alger. The game went back and forth and the teams found themselves tied at 25-25. A passing error by Eddyville-Blakesburg and an ace serve by Kelsi Walter gave Twin Cedars the 27-25 win.

In game three, Alexander began to assert herself as she opened the game with three kills and three ace serves and the Rockets moved into an 8-4 lead. Hoehns led her team back to a 15-10 lead and the Sabers were able to hold the lead at 21-18.

At that point, Van Dorin ran over a six-point service up that featured three kills by Anna Gutch. The Rockets turned the ball back with a 24-22 lead and a Saber service error gave Eddyville-Blakesburg the 25-22 win.

Game four was a see-saw battle until midway through the game when the Sabers took advantage of Rocket errors to build a 16-11 lead and then stretched it out to 23-15.

But the Rockets made a last ditch effort behind the serving of Schertz and Reed to close the gap to 24-23. Just when momentum appeared to favor the Rockets, Hoehns came through with a throbbing kill. Game, match!

Hoehns led her team with 14 kills and six ace serves. Courtney Jones and Hoehns each had 20 digs. For the Rockets, Alexander had 19 kills and four aces, Schertz had three kills and four aces and Reed dished out 19 assists.

First year Saber coach Amber Walker was pleased to see her team bounce back and finish the match.