Manual volleyball defeats South Oldham in season opener

Manual’s volleyball team after winning the fourth set and defeating South Oldham. Photo by KC Ciresi.

Weston Corak
August 20, 2021

Last night, Manual (1-0) defeated South Oldham (1-1) with a score of 3-1 in their season opener.

First set:

To start the game, Manual took a close lead of 5-4 which started with a kill from Berkley Humpries (11, #24). 

Following multiple setting errors by Manual causing South Oldham to gain the lead. After another set error Manual called a timeout with a score of 17-15 South Oldham. 

South Oldham went on to win the first set with a score of 25-21 due to a series of errors by Manual including a miss-ball and a miss-hit. 

South Oldham’s playstyle in the first set was expected by Coach Weaver and the team.

“We knew we had a challenge on our hands to start the season, we knew they were going to be gritty, run a lot of balls down and play aggressive defense,” Coach Weaver said. 

Second set:

Despite multiple errors in the first set, Manual looked forward to turning the game around by

taking a 5-1 lead with a block by Nya Brunton (#5,11).

“I think we picked it up as we went along because we felt we just wanted to win so we gave it our all and fought hard. Even in the little mistakes, we were pushing ourselves,” Nya Bunton (#5, 11) said. 

Manual continued to increase their lead to 10-5 over South Oldham. A hit by Nya Brunton helped them to do so.

After multiple serving errors by South Oldham, Manual found themselves sitting at a 20-15 lead. 

Manual continued their tear and won the set 25-22 after another good hit by Nya Brunton.

Consistent hits by Manual and a few errors by South Oldham allowed Manual to win the second set.

Third set:

Following a win in the second set, Manual carried their momentum into the set and took a 5-2 lead to start the third set.

As the set went on, Manual increased their lead, expanding it 10-4 after a serve by Daelen Ratterman (#11, 11).

Manual continued to grow their lead 20-7, after some key hits by Cecilia Roberts (#22, 11) and Nya Brunton.

Manual won the third set finishing with a score of 25-12 after a hit by Ruby Nwosu (#21, 11). 

Fourth set:

Manual only needed one more win to win the whole match and took an early 5-2 lead after a hit by Nya Brunton.

However, South Oldham regain the lead 10-8 after Manual failed to return their save. 

Manual took a 20-18 lead after a South Oldham setting error.

Manual kept this lead and closed out the set finishing 25-20. This allowed them to win the match versus South Oldham.

As the season progresses Manual looks forward to growth and success, “Our motto is to get one percent better everyday… we just know that if every day I can find one little part of my game to get better at, we’re going to be where we need to be at the end of the year,” Coach Weaver said.  

Their next game will be on Tuesday as they will host Butler at 6.