Blog Report by Kelly Goodsel
Corry Volleyball Head Coach
It was a spooky night of volleyball at McDowell high school on Thursday night. With both team colors being orange and black (appropriate for Halloween) and lots of pressure with such tight scores, it is understandable if kids were scared… but the experience of eight seniors and a few key plays by underclassmen were the difference in Corry’s victory. The legacy of Corry Beaver Volleyball grows as they add another D-10 title to the trophy case by sweeping the Ramblers in three straight sets 26-24, 26-24, and 25-22.
Unfortunately, in the pre-match warm-up, the starting outside hitter for Prep Collette (Coco) Speros landed on a teammate and twisted her ankle. The Ramblers responded with confidence, picking up the first six points of the game behind the tough serving of junior libero Mackenzie Moore. Senior Allison Sawyer stopped the scoring run with a big swing from the right side, making the score 6-1 and after a Grace Allen block, Aubrey Chase and Grace Allen kills, followed by a Halle Albers service ace, Corry climbed back to a one-point deficit at 6-5. With Corry trailing 9-7, Allison Sawyer went back to the service line and served three consecutive aces and forced a Cathedral Prep timeout trailing 10-9. Both teams battled point for point until the score was tied 22-22, when Prep pounded a swing off the Corry block just out of bounds and after a Corry hitting error, coach Goodsel called timeout trailing 24-22. Prep served the ball into the net after the timeout, and junior Sydney Mineo came into serve. She had a great dig when the tall senior middle hitter Olivia Hutchinson pounded a ball down to right back, but Sydney was exactly in the right spot and controlled the dig right to the setter which helped Corry score the point on a Grace Allen kill down the line. Sydney served two more key points, and Corry won the set 26-24.
The second set was another very competitive game with Cathedral Prep getting up by two points and then Corry would fight back and eventually get a lead. With the score 12-12, senior opposite hitter Emmalee Carr had a big block followed by two service aces by senior setter Payton McCray and Prep took their first timeout trailing 15-12. Prep got within one point at 18-17 on a kill by their senior outside hitter Carolina Krahe. Senior middle hitter Sadye Dyne had a big block and then a kill stretching the lead to 22-18. Prep wasn’t done, they eventually tied the game at 24-24, but Corry won the set after Prep made a couple of hitting errors. For the second straight set, Corry won 26-24.
The third set was tied at 10-10 when Corry took the lead for the last time on a Halle Albers kill. Sawyer had another kill to stretch the lead to 14-11. Corry maintained the two or three point lead for the rest of the game and won 25-22, closing out the match with 3-0 sweep.
Offensively, Corry was lead by Grace Allen and Halle Albers with 13 and 10 kills respectively. Defensively, Makenna Moore had 18 digs, Albers had 15, and Sydney Woods had 6. And the offense was orchestrated by Payton McCray and Haley Mumau who had 19 and 11 assists.
“There was a lot of pressure to win the D10 title after having been to three consecutive finals only to come up short, so it was awesome to watch the team perform under that pressure and come away with the D10 title.” Said coach Goodsel. “I’m super proud of how the team played, responded to the pressure, and trusted each other under tough conditions”.
District ten champions. It has been since 2019, but on this night, with this team, there was nothing that could stop this group from capturing their goal. The Beavers will celebrate the win, but now, the real work begins.
Corry Improves to 16-1 on the year, an undefeated 9-0 record in region play, region four champions, and now district 10 champions. There is only one goal left. One that has not been obtained since 2016, and surely one that could never be reached by a bunch of five foot nothings.... OR Could it!? We shall see. The journey starts Tuesday November 5th. as the Beavers will potentially play host for the first round of the state playoffs. If so, they will invite the Neshannock Lancers into the Beaver Dam. Neshannock defeated Southmoreland in a sweep to claim the number three seed out of the WPIAL. Time and place for certain will be determined in the days to come, but as always, wherever the game may be, DeeJ Experience will have there request in and will go wherever the playoff road takes us! Congratulations Corry! YOUR DISTRICT 10 CHAMPIONS!!!
Statistical leaders on the day include:
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