SECTION IV VOLLEYBALL: CANDOR ROLLS IN CLASS D QUARTERFINALS (24 PHOTOS) (2019-11-05)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
CANDOR — It's unlikely anyone was shocked by Candor's impressive 3-0 victory over Walton in the quarterfinals of the Section IV Class D Volleyball Championship here Tuesday. The Indians appear to be peaking at the right time of the season — and are truly as good as advertised.

"We're hoping that we are (peaking)," said Candor head coach Pam Quinlan. "We're still working hard at practices and challenging each other there, and I think we just continue to try to be consistent with what we do and kind of make sure everybody knows who is supposed to play the ball. Really good communication, I think, is one of our keys."

Top-seeded and unbeaten Candor rolled past No. 8 Walton by 25-6 and 25-8 scores in the first two sets, then won the third, 25-16.

Although the Warriors hung around a little more in the third game, they never truly threatened to upset their host.

Walton scored first in game three for its only lead of the night, but Candor tied things quickly at 20-2, then built an 8-2 advantage. They built a 20-10 cushion late in the game, but the Warriors wouldn't go down without a fight and actually outscored the Indians, 6-5, down the stretch.

"I think some times that just kind of happens sometimes," Quinlan said. "When you take the first two I think sometimes you just kind of sit back a little bit and they hung in there and they just kept coming back at us. Sometimes that happens in the third game."

The first and second sets were all Candor as the Indians rolled to 25-6 and 25-8 landslides.

In the opening game, the home team jumped out to a 5-0 lead as Megan Henry served up a couple of quick aces. With a 6-2 lead, Shelby Swartz stepped to the line and served up a sizzling ball ty extended the Indians' advantage to 13-2. From there it was all Candor as its teamwork continued to dominate the match.

Game two was similar to the opening set with the Indians scoring the first three points, then building a 10-2 cushion with Swartz at the service line. Leading 19-7, the Indians put together a late 5-0 burst to put the game out of reach.

"I saw some really good stuff out there — passing to the target and just running some good plays, hitters at the net really finding the court, I think some good defense," Quinlan said.

Braelyn Hornick registered a double-double for Candor (19-0), dishing out 24 assists, and serving up 10 points, four of them aces. She also had one block and four digs.

Swartz notched 13 service points, eight of which were aces, and also had seven kills, one block and two digs; while Jennah Kareem had service points, two aces, seven kills and two digs.

Megan Henry chipped in with seven service points, three of which were aces. Kori Strong and Selah Ray contributed four kills apiece; Teagan Bartlow had five service points, including an ace; Brayden Watkins had three kills and Kailyn Edwards added three digs.