Corry Volleyball Earns Fifth Straight Sweep With A Win Over Mercyhurst Prep On Charity Night

Grace Allen adjust in mid air to collect one of her 11 kills on the night. Photo Credit: DeeJ Experience Sports Stream

Blog Report By Kelly Goodsel

Corry Volleyball Head Coach

On Corry Volleyball’s annual Charity Night on Thursday night, the team on the court wasn’t very charitable.  In a match-up of last year’s District 10 semi-finals, Corry dismantled Mercyhurst Prep with tough serving and great defense.   Corry swept the Lakers 25-15, 25-12, 25-18 to move to a 9-1 overall record.

There are more important things to life than sports, but one of the great things about sports is bringing people together for a great cause.  The Corry volleyball team, organized by the nine Corry seniors, was able to raise over $7,600 (and still counting) for Lee Swartzfager and his family.  Lee, a Corry Area School District Administrator, has been fighting stomach cancer and the Corry community came together around a volleyball match to support Lee, Missy, and the Swartzfager family.

Once the volleyball started, Corry built an early lead on serving, with Makenna Moore serving four service aces, and Aubrey Chase and Sydney Woods each served one ace.  Mercyhurst Prep called timeout trailing 7-18 after Haley Mumau got a kill with a setter dump and Payton McCray got a kill hitting the ball off of a Grace Allen set.  Corry and Mercyhurst Prep played 7-7 the rest of the way for Corry to win the set 25-15.

The second set started 4-4 when Corry took over, kills by middle hitter Sadye Dyne, outside hitter Halle Albers, a double block by sophomores Regan Kemp and Rylee Nickerson, and another ace by Sydney Woods built the lead to 14-5.  Grace Allen had two kills sandwiched around a Sadye Dyne block to close out the second set 25-12.  Sydney Woods assumed the libero position in the second set where she had 5 digs.

The Swartzfager family was represented on the court by friends and family while the total amount of donations were announced (at that moment). From left to right Julie Brundage, Sadie Swartzfager, Emma Swartzfager, and Erin Brown.

In the third set, Corry jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on kills by Sydney Dyne, Allison Sawyer, and Grace Allen, and cruised the rest of the way to 25-18.  Couple highlights included a serving run by junior Brynley Watrous including an ace for the match point; great serve receive and defense passing by junior Bailee McCray; and finally another kill by Rylee Nickerson off of a out-of-system pass by freshmen Lauren Brundage. 

“This was a team win with 15 different players seeing action.  Quietly, Grace Allen has been leading the offense throughout the season, but tonight she was pretty special… racking up 11 kills on only 1 error, on 24 attacks – hitting over 400; pretty impressive!  For a majority of the third set, we had five underclassmen (juniors – Bailee McCray, Sydney Mineo, and Brynley Watrous; sophomores – Haley Mumau, Rylee Nickerson, and Regan Kemp; and freshmen – Lauren Brundage).  It was a team win!” finished coach Goodsel. 

Corry improves to 9-1 overall record on the year and remain undefeated in region four with a 6-0 record. The Beavers also remain at the top of the hill as the number one ranked team in the state in AA classification. With the regular season winding down to just four regular season games remaining and two tournaments, the playoffs draw near. The team however, seems to have their focus on one game at a time and the next one will be on the road on Tuesday in Girard before the last regular season home game against North East on Thursday. JV opening serve is at 6:00 PM with the varsity action to follow. If you can't make it to Girard, watch it live on the DeeJ Experience Sports Stream at www.deejexperience.com/corry-beavers

Statistical leaders for the day included:

Stats for Mercyhurst Prep:

Addica Sperry - 8 kills, 12 digs

Da'zhana Jordan - 12 Assists, 12 digs

Brooklyn Coleman - 5 digs

Kayla Mason - 5 digs