Blog Report By Kelly Goodsel
Corry Volleyball Head Coach
Corry hosted back-to-back matches this week, Iroquois on Tuesday night and much better Cathedral Prep team on Wednesday night. The Ramblers presented a unique challenge with two of the tallest middle hitters in District 10. Corry was able to outlast the Ramblers in four sets (25-19, 29-27, 24-26, 25-20) behind great serving, big swings by senior right side hitters (Emmalee Carr and Allison Sawyer) and a match high 17 kills by sophomore outside hitter Grace Allen.
In a very competitive first set, Corry jumped out to a 9-5 lead on kills by Allison Sawyer, Sadye Dyne and Halle Albers. Both teams played point for point until Grace Allen scored on back-to-back kills from the outside, forcing Prep’s first time out at 19-15. Corry closed out the set 25-19 on two kills by Halle Albers.
After talking about recent matches against Cochranton and Iroquois, where Corry gave up early leads, Cathedral Prep forced a serve receive pattern change and Corry responded with Grace Allen’s kill to make the score 5-2 Prep. Aubrey Chase went back to the service line and helped the team rattle off five straight points to take the lead 7-5 Corry, and force a Rambler timeout. Corry built 17-9 lead on kills by Albers, Carr, Chase, and Sawyer, but Prep was not giving up and tied the score 20-20 and eventually led 22-20 before Corry took their final timeout. Olivia Hutchinson, the Cathedral Prep middle hitter finished off a long rally with a point and Corry was down 23-20, but Corry didn’t fold. Corry tied the game up 24-24 and after several exchanges of points by both teams, Grace Allen put the Lady Beavers ahead and Aubrey Chase closed out the set 29-27 to win the exciting set.
Corry played well early in the third set and built a commanding 18-9 lead, but similar to the second set, Cathedral Prep rebounded and fought all the way back to tie the game at 24-24. After two Corry hitting errors, the excited Cathedral Prep crowd celebrated the 26-24 set win.
Cathedral Prep rode the wave of momentum from the third set and built a 6-1 and 9-2 lead before Corry called the first timeout. Corry’s serving put a ton of pressure on the Prep serve receive with an ace by Allison Sawyer and three aces by libero Makenna Moore to tie the game 12-12. Halle Albers had two kills sandwiched around a Payton McCray service ace and Corry was up 15-13. Grace Allen had two kills followed by an Allison Sawyer kill and Aubrey Chase had another ace to build a 21-16 lead and force Prep’s final timeout. Allen had two more kills before Sadye Dyne pounded the final point off the Prep defenders hands, and Corry won 25-20.
“I thought the team fought hard and played well throughout the match. Yes, we gave up a couple of long point scoring runs that allowed Prep to get back into and eventually win the 3rd set, but our players remained mentally tough and focused on the next point and next task at hand.” stated coach Kelly Goodsel.
“We had some great performances, that look like they are made by individuals (since they get the stats recognition), but are coordinated team efforts to accomplish. For example, Makenna Moore had 30 digs and 6 service aces; Aubrey Chase had 5 service aces and 6 kills; Allison Sawyer had 9 kills and fellow right side hitter Emmalee Carr had 4 kills with no errors. Lastly, you can’t talk about stats without pointing out Grace Allen’s match leading 17 kills, but as I said, you need a pass, you need a set (Payton McCray had 27 and Haley Mumau had 24 assists) for Grace to be successful” demonstrated coach Goodsel.
This was a big match for Region 4 standings and for potential District 10 playoff seedings later in the season. Coming in the middle of homecoming week, with three of the volleyball players on the homecoming court, the kids are managing a lot of activities including volleyball and school.
Corry Improves to a 4-1 record on the year and are ranked #1 in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association (PVCA) Poll in AA classification. They will head to Meadville on Saturday for a tournament before heading to Union City on Tuesday to invade the Bears Den in another region four matchup.
Statistical leaders for the day included:
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