STAC VOLLEYBALL: OWEGO MAKES IT AN EVEN DOZEN ON SENIOR NIGHT (2019-10-17)
BY TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportOWEGO — It can get easy to get caught up in the fanfare associated with Senior Night, but Owego was able to deflect enough of it away to register a 3-0 sweep over a scrappy Ithaca team here Thursday night.
The Indians won by scores of 25-23, 25-14 and 25-21 to win their 12th consecutive match and improve to 12-1 on the season.
"I thought we did OK," said Owego head coach Brittney Race. "I think the hype of Senior Night is hard to play through, but after that first game, I thought we settled in a little bit.
"We've been working on trying to clean some things up, our energy, our intensity, and it's better. Tonight, they had moments of really positive signs of that, but we definitely still have work to do."
Of course, the opening set did not appear as if it would go Owego's way as the Little Red surged to a 22-20 lead late in the game. However, Emma Howe came up with one of her team-high four blocks for a side out and the Indians won five of the game's final six points.
Game two saw Owego snap a 7-7 tie and go in front, 13-8. Ithaca never got closer than four after that and the Indians scored the final six points to pull away.
The Little Red would make themselves pesky in game three an take a 12-9 advantage, but a 5-point run put Owego in front for good, 13-12. Clinging to a 14-13 edge, the Indians used a 5-0 spurt to build 19-13 lead.
Down, 22-14, Ithaca would rally to narrow the gap to 23-21, only to see the home team score the next two points to complete its 11th sweep of the season.
Those point bursts which dotted the team's performance are among the things the team needs to work on if it hopes to be successful during the postseason.
"We get caught in that back-and-forth; we'll gain a point and we'll lose a point, or we'll gain a point and lose two points," Race said. "We've been really working to try and not do that and be the team that scores points consistently, so when we can do that it makes a big difference for us and we don't get caught in that back-and-forth stuff."
Taylor Aubel recorded five kills and five digs; Sara Zepkowski had two kills, a block, a dig and an ace; Haleigh Whatley had four blocks and two kills; Maddy Powell chipped in with two digs and an ace; and Bianca DeVita added four digs and two assists to represent the senior effort.
Mackenzie Struble handed out 18 assists to go with five kills, four aces and a dig; Camryn Kopalek contributed seven kills, seven digs and five assists; Emma Howe had six kills and four blocks; Annika Kinney had six digs, an ace and an assist; Mia Puglisi had four kills, a block and a dig; Macey Gibson chipped in with five digs; and Harlea Russell added three digs and an ace.
Owego competes in the Shenendehowa Invitational Saturday, then hosts Horseheads in a STAC semifinal Thursday. The Blue Devils handed the Indians their lone dual match loss in the season opener.
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IN PHOTO: Owego's Sara Zepkowski (L) and Camryn Kopalek. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
