Enumclaw High’s volleyball group got off on the right foot as it won on the road, visiting a pesky Gator unit at Decatur High in front of a lively crowd the Hornets used to their advantage to bludgeon Decatur 25-16, 25-21 and 25-9 and maintain its vice-grip on the third place standing in the topsy turvy South Puget Sound League 3A.

The triumph over the slippery Gators escalated EHS’ record to 4-2 in SPSL 3A play. Enumclaw couldn’t realize a great deal of separation from the lower echelons of their league as the Hornets hosted and lost to Auburn Mountainview Thursday, falling 25-23, 25-12 and 25-20.

“We had good energy in the first set against the Lions as our fans really got behind us and I actually thought we were going to beat them in set number one,” coach Jackie Carel said. “We just couldn’t maintain the edge against the very good Auburn Mountainview squad.

“I almost can’t wait to play them again,” explained Carel, “because the good teams are the ones that you learn the lasting lessons from and our green sophomores on this team need all of the experience they can glean from victories or loses.”

While hitter HayleeMae Dennis tabulated 25 kills on the week, setter Gina Sanders lent a hand with an even 40 assists and the Katina Ferguson registered nine kills against Decatur.