The Lady Bisons shook off their sluggish performance on Monday and played much better, but it still wasn't enough to take down the Lady Warriors, who picked up a straight-set win.

West Branch's prowess at the net was too much for Clearfield, which committed far fewer mistakes than the night before.

"We had better serving tonight, and I'm not disappointed at all," said Peters.

"I think we were a little intimidated at the beginning, but I thought as the night went on we kept getting better and better. I thought we might get that third game, but ... we played a lot better tonight."

The Lady Warriors won by scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-21.

"Clearfield played a good game," West Branch coach Terry Trude said. "We weren't real used to their tempo, and we haven't seen a lot of free ball, free ball, free ball. I give them a lot of credit. They were scrappy.

"We just didn't get any rhythm tonight, and, to be a good team, you've got to get into more rhythm. Defensively, I thought we didn't get on the floor as much as we should have. Offensively, we took some good swings."

After facing little resistance through the first two sets, West Branch got all it could handle in the third, as the Lady Bisons maintained the lead until the very end.

With things tied at three in the early going, Clearfield gained the advantage with a five-point service run from Amber Mahlon to open up an 8-3 lead, which forced Trude to call a timeout to regroup.

Despite the big run, the Lady Bisons were unable to hold off the Lady Warrior charge.

Jada Larson reeled off four service points of her own to bring West Branch to within a point at 20-19.

Bethany Kopchik found an opening in the Clearfield defense to regain serve for the Lady Warriors, and Victoria Jarrett was able to close out the set, and the match.

"We subbed a lot of people in to a couple of positions, and we were trying to experiment with some stuff," said Trude, "and that's what happens.

"We'll take the win, though. We've got to get better every day because we're still a work in progress right now. We have some lofty goals, and we have to try to live up to our ninth ranking in the state."

The Lady Warriors' ability to put the free ball away gained them the momentum early, and West Branch wouldn't relinquish it.

Mariah McDowell came up with three kills on another long service run by Larson, while Sloan Sample and Melissa Lake also had a strong showing at the net in a first-set win.

McDowell, who finished with a team-high nine kills, had five kills in the first, while Sample had four and Lake three.

"Melissa Lake, Mariah and Sloan had big games at the net," Trude said. "They had single blocks, and you really, you can't single-block those hitters. They took advantage of it, and they were really successful at the net."

Lake kept up the strong play in the second, collecting five kills and a block, and Katelyn Lutz helped the Lady Warriors get the early lead and finished with seven service points in the second-set victory.

McDowell had three kills in the second, while Sample added two.

"Our height, again, killed us," said Peters. "We just couldn't stop their big hitters, and that was a big factor.

 "The girls played well tonight, and I think we can build on that and start getting on the winning track again. West Branch is a good, well-coached team."

Ashlie Gearhart had a team-high four kills in the loss for Clearfield, which dropped to 1-3 on the season. West Branch is now 2-0.

The Lady Bisons travel to Brockway on Thursday, while West Branch hits the road to take on Claysburg-Kimmel.

West Branch won the junior varsity match in three sets.