On Thursday night, Manual’s varsity volleyball team defeated the Male Bulldogs three sets to one.
The Bulldogs served first, but the Lady Crimsons quickly earned their first point after a kill from Kennedy Dawson (#1, 12). Male failed to return Dawson’s serves, and Manual scored repeatedly until there was a service error. Avery Schrenger (#8, 11) then passed the ball to Aubrey Montgomery (#29, 12), followed by a kill from Brooke Ciresi (#14, 12). Male attempted to return the ball , but it went out of bounds.
The Lady Crimsons received the ball and Abby Gentner (#22, 12) served. Male failed to return it, and Manual’s lead increased 12-1. . The ball was passed between the teams for a few minutes, until the Bulldogs passed it into the net, losing the point. After repeated mistakes from the Bulldogs, the Lady Crimsons solidified their lead. Dawson served two consecutive aces, allowing Manual to get closer towards set point. Piper Fulton (#17, 10) then killed the ball to win the first set.
Manual started off on serve in the second set, gaining momentum as Male struggled to keep the ball in play, putting the score at 1-0. Although both teams exchanged the ball, Fulton consistently spiked the ball to allow the Lady Crimsons to maintain their lead. Male picked up the pace, however, and fought back with firm serves, closing the gap at 7-6. Manual quickly responded back when Gentner spiked the ball, making the score 8-7. The Lady Crimsons’ serving game was on point and picked up excellent plays between Dawson (#1, 12) serving the ball, Montgomery (#29, 12) setting the ball and repeated spikes from Fulton (#17, 10), leading to a 10-7 advantage.
Despite Male’s attempts to spike and block the ball, they were faced against a tough, Manual defense led by Montgomery and Ciresi. The score increased in Manual’s favor, 18-11, after a number of strong serves and spikes from the Lady Crimsons’ offense. After a timeout from Male, their offense still struggled to hit the ball within the lines of the court, giving Manual more of a lead. A block from Montgomery (#29, 12) ended the second set with a score of 24-12.
Male started the third set with the service, and scored two points before Ciresi killed the ball. Male attempted to return Dawson’s serve, but Fulton was quick to block them. The Lady Crimsons struggled to return Male’s serve, allowing the Bulldogs to score four points until they launched the ball into the crowd. Manual took the service once again. Gentner sprinted to save the ball by diving and rolling, then quickly got to her feet. Another save from Gentner scored Manual’s fourth point, but Male was still leading.
The Lady Crimsons began catching up to Male, and a kill from Ally Hamilton (#15, 9) brought the score to 9-12. Repeated errors from Manual brought Male’s score up, however. The ball was volleyed between teams for a few minutes afterwards, but the Bulldogs kept possession of the service. Manual attempted to score several more times, but were unable to do so. The Bulldogs increased their lead 17-24, and then killed the ball to win the set.
Manual started off the fourth set with the service.. Suzetta Fuller (#9, 10) served, but the Lady Crimsons hit the ball out of bounds on their return. The set started off close, but Manual quickly took the lead, blocking each of Male’s attempts to score. Fuller leapt and saved the ball, and Ciresi killed it twice. The Bulldogs dove for the ball repeatedly, but were unable to stop the Lady Crimsons from scoring.
Repeated kills from Fulton and Montgomery strengthened Manual’s lead, and they kept the service for several minutes. Manual scored point after point until they had a service error. Male took the ball, but was unable to stop Schrenger (#8, 11) from hitting it onto their side of the court. The teams battled for the final point of the game, despite the Lady Crimsons’ 20-point lead. The ball was rallied between the two teams for a few minutes, until the Bulldogs failed to return it. The set finished 25-4, in the Lady Crimsons’ favor.
“I feel like we played pretty good. We let up a little bit in the third set, and then we showed them what Manual really was and stomped on their throats in the fourth set,” Gentner said.
“[I’m] always proud of [the team] coming out on top…like that. The emotions can always kinda get the better of kids, you never know what’s gonna happen. But I’m disappointed with our pulls in set 3. It’s becoming a problem with us where we come out hot [in] the first or two sets, and then we let teams linger back in and I don’t want it to catch up with us late in the year. So it’s kind of a challenge on the kids right now that a great victory gets to the rival, but [there have been] some lessons learned here this week that we got to fix going into next week,” said head coach Richard Weaver.
The teams’ next game is against Butler on September 23 at 7:30 p.m.
