Valley Volleyball Notches Second Victory
The Valley volleyball squad faced two of the top Shoreline Conference teams last week before earning its second win of the campaign against Hale-Ray.
The Warriors first faced undefeated Morgan early in the week and lost 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-16). Carly Zuppe had 16 serves, an ace, and six digs; Makayla Urquhart had an ace, 11 receptions, and six digs; Daniella Alvarado had eight receptions and seven digs; Michaella Pace had six kills and three blocks; Sadie Swap had four kills and a block; Kenna Campbell had three kills, a block solo, and four block assists; and Leah Sopneski notched three aces and 12 assists.
"This was a competitive match and the score doesn't really reflect the level of competition that was played. Our defense and serve receive was overall solid and this was a good team effort against Morgan," said Coach Kathy Scott. "We only served 82 percent with five aces for the night, which isn't good enough to beat Morgan, but Makayla Urquhart played extremely well as she took on Morgan's serves and big hits. Our blockers also were pretty focused on the hitters and were able to make a difference in the match. This match was an opportunity to put some things together that we've been working on in practice, which felt pretty good."
On Sept. 17, Valley then lost to a strong HK squad 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-9). Urquhart had eight receptions with seven digs; Harger had two kills and six digs; Swap had two aces and seven kills; Jenna Tiezzi had an ace, two kills, and four digs; and Sopneski had a kill, 15 assists, and three digs.
"HK is especially strong this year and they did a great job of mixing up their attack," said Scott. "Again, it pushed our defense and they performed well when under pressure. We didn't do as well on serve receive as we have been, but Leah Sopneski has been doing an amazing job running down the balls and putting us back into system."
The Warriors then earned their second victory of the young season with 3-2 win over Hale-Ray (26-24, 25-12, 28-30, 20-25, 15-8). Campbell had 11 kills and two blocks; Swap notched three aces and six kills; Tiezzi had five kills, four aces, and eight digs; Sopneski had 27 assists and three kills; Zuppe went 15-for-16 in serving with an ace, eight receptions, and 12 digs; Urquhart went 11-for-12 in serving with an ace, four receptions, and 13 digs; Pace had six kills and a block; and Jessica Paholski went 19-for-19 in serving with a dig.
"Makayla Urquhart and Carly Zuppe [our defensive specialists] have done a fantastic job this week when they came up against some of the league's best hitters," said Scott, whose squad is 2-3. "Leah Sopneski is doing an outstanding job running the offense and setting the ball out of system, which allows Swap, Pace, and Campbell to connect offensively. This was a big match for Tiezzi who played aggressively all around. We are pleased at the depth we have this year and how each player is embracing their role in order to make us stronger as a team. Paholski, a freshman, went into the match to serve and went 100 percent."