Never underestimate the value of a serve.
In Thursday night’s sweep of St. Francis Catholic Academy, the Newberry volleyball team finished with 29 aces in a 25-10, 25-18, 25-14 win on the road.
“That’s almost 10 aces a set,” said Newberry coach Hank Rone. “If you get 10 aces a set it’s going to be hard to beat that team. And then when we didn’t, they couldn’t get in system that well with their offense so they were free balling a lot of free balls to us because we were serving hard enough and in spots where they were having a hard time just getting the ball back over the net and attacking it.”
A total of 10 players had at least one ace for the Panthers (2-1).
“I feel like I can serve anybody on our team,” Rone said. “We’re 1-13 pretty dang good serving and they can all play defense because part of being a server on a team is you’ve got to be able to play defense too.”
Early on, St. Francis Catholic (0-2) rallied from an early 3-0 deficit and took a 5-4 lead on back-to-back aces by freshman Naomi Magary.
“That was kind of a shock,” said St. Francis Catholic coach Erin Livingston. “She wasn’t able to play in the first game so we weren’t really able to see her full potential, but today really opened our eyes to what all she brings to the table.”
Senior Malana Kennard (10 digs, 5 aces) had three of her five aces in the opening set to help the Panthers go on a 7-0 run for an 11-5 lead they would not relinquish.
“Malana is just, to me, one of the best defenders around,” Rone said. “Sometimes she sucks into the middle a little bit and she can get burned on that outside shot but she makes up for so many plays and her serving has just been spot on this season. I don’t think she’s missed but just a couple of serves, one was tonight, but she’s done a great job, and I’d take her as a libero over anyone in our county right now.”
Following a kill by senior Anna Grace Bennett, senior McKenzie Moses had three consecutive aces which helped lead to a 6-0 run as the Panthers pulled away for a 21-8 advantage.
The Wolves led early in the second set, 3-2, but senior Chloe Jones (6 kills) had a kill at the net to tie it and then had consecutive aces to give the Panthers (2-1) a 5-3 lead.
Later in the set, Jones had a kill on the near sideline to break a 12-12 tie and the Panthers were never threatened again.
“We set her a little tight early and then we settled down and we made some good sets to her, and Chloe can go up and take advantage of that and she did, and then the last one, she would have had seven but we got called for a double there but she had a great right side hit,” Rone said. “She’s played with Hanna Templeton for two years so now we’re getting used to two new setters because we’re going to be running a 6-2 so it just takes time and that’s what I’m telling our hitters is just be patient with these setters.”
In the third set, senior Sarah Priester had back-to-back aces to start and later her serving turned a 13-10 lead into a 22-10 lead, finishing with a team-high seven aces. She also added 14 assists.
“I think Sarah started out a little slow and then I kind of challenged her in that third set and she had five of her 14 assists in that third set,” Rone said. “Her serving, she’s been struggling a little bit, so that last run off for her I wasn’t going to sub her out. I told the sub that was going to go in for her, I ended up subbing her in for Meadow (Moses – 5 kills) up front row and let Sarah end it out because Sarah ran off seven or eight points at the end and we needed that after she missed two in a row in set two…she is slowing getting out of her slump and tonight was a great serving effort for her.”
Juniors Gabby Rosado and Hailey Schoster (2 kills) each led the Wolves with 10 digs and eight digs, respectively, while Rosado led the team with three kills.
“Tonight, we played with a lot of heart and a lot of effort,” Livingston said. “There were definitely moments where we could have been a little bit better but hey that’s the game of volleyball. I’m just happy with the effort.”
Newberry will host Countryside Christian and Trenton in a Tri-Match at 9 a.m. and noon on Saturday, while St. Francis Catholic will travel to Lafayette (Mayo) on Monday.
