RIDGWAY, Pa. – Sheffield came out competitively at Ridgway Tuesday, but “fell flat” in the final two sets as the Elkers swept the Wolverines, 25-20, 25-9 and 25-11.

“It was one of those nights where something was just off,” Sheffield coach Melissa Lemay said. “We competed in the first set and then kid of fell flat.”

The Wolverines were able to capitalize on some Ridgway mistakes to keep the first set close before ultimately dropping the 25-20 decision.

“We were forcing them to make more mistakes than I think they were used to,” Lemay said.

The Elkers regrouped by the second set and turned the tables on Sheffield. The Wolverines had trouble with the serve, both serving and receiving, throughout the match.

“We had some service errors and had trouble with our serve receive,” Lemay said. “We didn’t communicate well. At one point I asked the girls if someone told them they had to be quiet tonight because they weren’t talking.”

Despite the issues, Lemay said she is seeing improvement from her young squad.

“My middle hitters, one’s a freshman, one’s a sophomore, are getting used to the pace of play at the varsity level and getting their timing on hitting,” she said. “We had six blocks tonight, that’s probably more in one game than we’ve had all year. The more times the girls are able to touch the ball, the better.”

Megan Johnson had 12 assists, Marissa Grubbs had 11 digs and Lily Lauffenberger had four service points and four kills for the Wolverines.

Sheffield starts the second half of its season Thursday at Brockway. Lemay expects better results based on what she knows about her team.

“If we play to our potential, and we put it all together, we can compete with all of these teams the second time we play them,” she said. “I know that they can dig deep and they can do their very best to turn their season around starting Thursday. We have to do it.”

JV: RIDGWAY 2, SHEFFIELD 0

Ridgway won the junior varsity contest 25-15 and 25-17.

Freshman Madeline Roell had four service points, the first points of her high school career, for the Wolverines.