By Kelly Goodsel
Head Coach of Corry Volleyball
In a match-up of two state-ranked teams, the fans got their money's worth as #3 AA Ranked Corry took on the #7 A ranked Maplewood Tuesday Night in the Beaver Dam. Corry’s balanced attack outlasted the Maplewood Tigers in five sets. Corry took the first two sets in identical 25-20 scores and then Maplewood took the next two sets in very similar scores 25-19 and 25-20. Finally, Corry was able to regain the momentum in the fifth set and took the final set and match 15-10.
The first home match of the volleyball season started a little shaky for the home team, chalk it up to nerves or excitement of the first match, and Maplewood took a 10-6 lead. After three consecutive kills by Halle Albers, Grace Allen, and Sadye Dyne, Corry had tied up the game 11-11. Corry and Maplewood battled point for point until 16-16 when Corry started scoring consistently. Senior middle hitter Sadye Dyne pounded two more kills to spark an 8-4 run and senior opposite hitter Allison Sawyer put the game away with a kill from the right side.
Corry carried the first set momentum into the second set and jumped out to an early 6-2 lead and then after another Sadye Dyne kill and Aubrey Chase served an ace, Corry was up 11-4. The difference in the second set was Corry’s right-side hitters: seniors Emmalee Carr and Allison Sawyer who were swinging hard all night and put up a solid block. Sadye Dyne led the team with 5 kills in the second set to lead the team to a second 25-20 victory.
Corry and Maplewood battled in set three with neither team leading by more than 2 points up to 13-13 when Maplewood went on a 10-2 scoring run and forced a second Corry timeout at 15-23. Corry started to change the momentum with a 4-1 run before Maplewood closed out the third set 25-19.
The fourth set didn’t start well for the home team, down 5-0 Corry closed the gap to just a two-point lead at 15-17, 16-18, 19-21, and 20-22, but Maplewood would not relinquish the lead and closed out the set 25-20.
Maplewood started the fifth and deciding set with the momentum and had an early 3-1 lead. Junior serving specialist Sydney Mineo went on an important serving run supported by sophomore outside hitter Grace Allen who had a kill and then a dominating block to change the momentum back in Corry’s favor. Corry went from down 1-3 to leading 6-3 on Mineo’s effective serving and point scoring of Allen. Senior outside hitter Halle Albers earned a kill to lead 8-4 and then senior defensive specialist Sydney Woods helped pad the lead by three more points (11-4), two of the points scored by Woods' service aces. Maplewood battled back to a three-point deficit (9-12), but Corry responded, senior setter Payton McCray served an ace to lead 14-9 before Halle Albers closed out the game 15-10.
“I am really proud of how the entire team responded to great competition and the stress of a fifth set. Our senior leadership really showed up in the fifth set and I think the difference in the match was our balanced attack. Look at the stats, six different Corry hitters had 6 or more kills; 4 different players had 10-plus digs, and our serving was tough. We had so many players contribute to the victory, but to single out a couple of players… I thought Emmalee Carr and Sadye Dyne had great nights… Emmalee with 6 kills and no hitting errors, and Sadye Dyne had 9 kills and was dominant in the first two sets.” explained coach Goodsel
Defensively, Corry was led by all-state libero Makenna Moore who had 22 digs and Sydney Woods with 18 digs. Both of them had two service aces. The balanced offense was led by senior Payton McCray and sophomore Haley Mumau with 25 and 26 assists respectively. Corry is really tough for the opposition to defend when Allen had 13 kills, Albers with 10, Dyne with 9, Chase with 7, and finally, Carr and Sawyer both had 6 kills.
Corry improves to 1-1 on the year and is right back in the gym Wednesday before a big match at Cochranton on Thursday.
Statistical leaders for the day included:
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