Salmen’s Lady Spartans suffered a 25-13, 21-25, 25-22, 25-17 loss to the East Jefferson Lady Warriors in a district match held Tuesday at Salmen.

Salmen (3-14) was 2-7 in district at Thursday’s press time, while East Jefferson (12-13) was 6-3.

East Jefferson’s Olivia Stauffer, who had 12 kills, said it was a good win for the Lady Warriors after they struggled, going 2-8 in district last year. She said they didn’t mesh well last year. She added that now depending on how things went yesterday they have a chance to get to the playoffs.

Salmen’s Natalie Jones goes for a kill against East Jefferson’s Brittany Hicks (4) and Jennifer Sarasino (21) during Tuesday’s home district match. (Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

In the first game, Salmen took a 2-0 lead as Natalie Jones capped the early run with one of her eight kills.

The teams exchanged points, but East Jefferson was able to go up 5-4 as Stauffer posted two kills during the spurt.

The contest went back-and-forth, but with it tied at 7-7, the Lady Warriors began to take control.

East Jefferson recorded nine of the next 10 points and had a commanding 16-8 advantage.

Jones ended the run with a kill and later got another, which made it 18-10, but East Jefferson went on for the 25-13 victory.

In the second game, the Lady Spartans scored first again, but a double-hit by Salmen tied the match at 1-1.

Both teams had trouble gaining momentum early. With the score knotted at 9-9, Salmen’s Briana Brown, who blocked two shots, registered a kill that started a 9-0 run.

During the run, Jones had consecutive kills for points 12 and 13.

The Lady Spartans biggest lead 11, twice at 21-10 and 22-11.

But East Jefferson battled back.

The Lady Warriors went on a 10-2 run and trimmed the deficit to 24-21 before Salmen knotted the match at one-game apiece with a 25-21 win.

The Lady Spartans were first on the board in the third game and took a 4-1 lead. East Jefferson came back and took a 6-5 lead.

This one was another seesaw battle throughout. With the score tied at 12-12, the Lady Warriors tallied four consecutive points, capped off by Stauffer’s kill.

Salmen came back to tie it at 18-18. The contest was knotted at 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 late.

East Jefferson recorded the final three points en route to the victory.

In the fourth game, the Lady Warriors scored first for the initial time in the match and led 3-0.

Back came the Lady Spartans, who tied things at 6-6 and took a 10-7 lead, helped out by a Jones’ kill.

East Jefferson responded with four-straight to go up 11-10, but Salmen got two in a row and led 12-11.

The teams exchanged points and then the Lady Spartans scored again to make it 14-12.

East Jefferson knotted things at 14-14, but Salmen was resilient, scoring three in a row to grab a 17-14 lead.

East Jefferson’s response was 11-straight points for a 25-17 victory.

The Lady Warriors’ Lacie Felder totaled 12 kills, while Elizabeth finished with 16 assists. Brianna Taylor blocked four shots and Jennifer Sarasino served three aces.

For Salmen, Aeriel Lara pulled up 20 digs, while Ariel Mutz dished out 11 assists and Katherine Hursey had two aces.