With the air conditioning in East Union’s Dalben Center inoperative, the Lancers were forced to play host to River Islands on Thursday in the new auxiliary gym for a non-league girls volleyball tilt.

East Union could not get going in its new digs, as Corley Simoni served the Riptide to a 12-0 first-set lead behind three aces, only for the Lancers to battle back and win that opening set 25-23 on the way to a 25-17, 19-25, 25-20 win.

“Her (Simoni’s) serving set the tone for the game,” East Union coach Tevani Liotard said. “I told the girls that we had to reset, we had to reset. Did I think we were going to come back like that? No. But we came back against Lincoln the other night being down 22-10 in the second set to win 26-24.

“So, I know they are capable of coming back and fighting hard. We may not do it pretty, but we get it done.”

Macie Hall-Anderson tallied eight kills and five digs for the Lancers (4-3).

“We went out there with big hearts,” Hall-Anderson said. “We definitely want to just win.

“Overall, we just really wanted it and we pushed our hardest.”

East Union’s Elle Baluyut chipped in seven digs, four aces and three assists.

“I am really, really proud of us,” Baluyut said. “We had some downs, but we got it back up with our energy.

“We just kept encouraging each other.”

Lucia Dayeh dished out 15 assists and nine service points along with seven digs for the Lancers.

“It was crazy tonight,” Dayeh said. “We had a lot of confidence when we went in but after we started we went downhill a lot.

“We brought the energy up and came back to win that first set. We needed to communicate a little bit more but overall we did an amazing job.

River Islands (0-6) was in position to win two of the three sets it lost.

“I have to keep putting the girls into the right positions where they can succeed,” River Islands coach Rhiannon Genilla said. “We are trying to find what works, we are sometimes putting people in unfamiliar places.

“But today, I think there was a lot of good. A lot of awesome placement of balls, less dropped balls. It is still young in the season, but in the end, the girls have to play up to their ability.”

Simoni dished out 26 assists with 13 digs and four aces. Leighann Ruiz added 21 digs and 15 kills for the Riptide, Isabella Carrillo 15 digs, Niamae Devers 14 kills and Isabella Shepherd 11 digs.

East Union opens Valley Oak League play Monday hosting Central Catholic at 6:30 p.m. and on Tuesday River Islands travels to Modesto to face Grace Davis at 6:30 p.m.