Casper Star Tribune Oct. 2009

Evanston's Erin Kirby and Natrona County's Baillie Gibson played a game of "anything you can do, I can do better" at NC's Dalton Gym on Saturday.

In the end, it was Kirby and the Red Devils who escaped with the 3-2 victory (28-30, 25-21, 27-25, 26-28, 15-10) to take sole possession of first place in the Class 4A West volleyball standings.

Fittingly, Kirby blocked an attack to end the match. The 5-foot-11 senior finished with 12 blocks and 25 kills as Evanston improved to 7-1 in conference play.

"Erin was huge for us," Evanston coach Teran Lawlar said. "She had 12 solo blocks ... that's a season for some players."

Gibson was nearly as impressive with 18 kills and seven blocks.

In a match befitting two of the top teams in the state -- NC entered the match ranked No. 1 while Evanston was No. 3 -- the Red Devils and Fillies battled on even terms throughout.

NC (6-2) fought off four game points in the opener before prevailing when an Evanston attack didn't clear the net.

The Red Devils pulled even in the second game behind Kirby and junior Katie Thomas.

Thomas, playing on the outside for the first time this season, had three kills during a 6-0 run late in the game. Thomas finished with 19 kills.

"We made some lineup changes [Saturday] and they paid off," Lawlar said. "And I thought we eliminated our service errors and played with a lot of emotion."

Gibson (five kills, two blocks) and Kirby (six kills, three blocks) exchanged shots in the third game, but it was NC sophomore Rahnee Jackson who nearly gave the Fillies the win.

Jackson, filling in for senior Ashley Straughan, had six kills in the game, including a well-timed attack that just got by two Evanston blockers and gave NC a 25-24 lead.

"I was proud of the way we had some girls step up," NC coach Sally Nichols said. "We weren't fully loaded, but Evanston is a good team, and they played a good match."

Following Jackson's attack, Thomas and Alyssa Hagstrom came up with back-to-back kills and the Fillies were whistled for a controversial net violation on game point as Evanston took a 2-1 lead.

Gibson came up with a big kill on match point to keep NC alive in the next game, and two Evanston miscues gave the Fillies the win.

In the end, though, NC was unable to overcome Kirby, who controlled the net in the decisive game, finishing with five kills and the match-winning block.

"There were three games that could have gone either way," Nichols said. "Unfortunately, they didn't go our way."

Evanston can wrap up the regular-season title with a win at Green River on Tuesday, although a loss would keep both the Red Devils and Wolves (6-1), as well as the Fillies, alive for the conference's top spot.

"There's no doubt that matches like this one [Saturday] make us a better team," Lawlar said. "The win helps solidify our position, but we came into this season with high expectations and we still have work to do.