In varsity action, the Neers were up for much of the first set and led by as many as 3. They went up 22-20 and looked poised to win the first set. The Breds came back and ended up coming back and winning the set by a final of 23-25. SK has struggled this year finishing when they have had leads or when they had to fight to get out of a hole. That didn’t happen tonight. SK came back with a vengeance and won the second set 25-22 and built some nice momentum. They went into the third set and didn’t let up as they built some nice leads against the Breds before going on to an impressive 25-18 win. New Cath didn’t’ want to go down on senior night and led for much of the fourth set. SK trailed by as many as 4 points in the match before they dug in with a can’t lose mentality we haven’t seen in a long time. They gut out one exciting set by a final of 29-27, winning three straight sets to spoil the Breds senior night. New Cath is a very strong team with a record that doesn’t show how good and improved over last year that they are. Put it this way, they played Louisville Mercy on the road last night.
Tonight was one of SK’s best matches of the year. Not just because they won but because they overcame a raucous crowd and took a punch when they got down. SK has seemed to get nervous in front of some of their recent crowds but they thrived on it tonight. Coach Atwood showed a little ire at one point which seemed to fire her team up. It also might have gotten someone else fired up. Let's just say if our good friend Randall Wagner were still with us today, he would have been yelling, “That’s Terrible!” I was and my vocal cords are a tad irritated as a result. Things weren’t going SK’s way but they didn’t get frustrated, they got mad and got a refuse to lose tude. I thought it was awesome. The seniors led and the rest of the team followed, just how it is supposed to go. It was an entire team effort as evidenced by the stats: Kaitlin “Hammer” Murray had 11 kills and her best service of the season; Haley Robinson had 10 kills, 3 blocks, Ellie Smith also had 10 kills, Rachael Figgins had 6 kills, Amarah Nicholson posted 8 Blocks. Sophie Dunn put up 32 assists and Schmee dug 23 Tachikara’s for SK.
SK finishes the regular season at 25-8. Sure, that’s impressive but right now, SK is 0-0. All of the past games at this point really don’t matter a whole lot. Nice record but that’s not what the original goal that they set for themselves in the beginning of the season. The regular season teaches lessons and tonight that lesson is that the girls have the ability and talent to reach their goals. There’s a reason that the coaches throughout the Commonwealth have voted the Neers as one of the better teams in the state all year…they are good. It is time to reiterate that goal and go out and get it girls. I’ve had a good feeling about this year and if they play like they did tonight, you'll be playing in the state tourney.
I’m out of clichés. Here’s a recap of the other games that helped the Neers post a sweep of the Breds.
Freshman team finished their season with a nice match win with set wins by scores of 21-14 and 21-7. Avery and Brynn each had 5 kills. Eve had 7 services points in first game. Kayla had 8 service points in the second game. Jessica McDonald 20 assists. The Frosh Neers had no drop balls in either game.
The JV won in 2 by scores of 21-15 and 21-17. Stat leaders were Kahlee Fuehner with 6 kills; Anna Cully with 5 kills; MacKenzie Bard with 9 assists, all complemented by excellent passing by Maggie Mullins and Kesley Holland. Nice job by the whole Program tonight.
