SECTION IV VOLLEYBALL: S-VE SWEEPS DRYDEN, ADVANCES TO CLASS C POOL PLAY SEMIS (24 PHOTOS) (2024-11-05)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — Spencer-Van Etten got a good workout in preparation for Section IV volleyball pool play, sweeping Dryden, 3-0, in the Class C quarterfinals here Tuesday evening.

The sixth-seeded Purple Lions would hang around for much of the first and second sets, and the early stages of game three, but the third-seeded Panthers prevailed by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-10.

“I feel like they did a great job,” S-VE coach Charity Meyers said. “I think we only missed a couple serves the whole night. I think the hitting was on. I mean, there were a few things we’ve got to clean up and this is a good time to really work on that, before we get into the pool play Thursday.”

The Panthers got hot near the midway point in game, scoring 12 of the final 14 points to break away from a 13-8 lead. Dryden started with a pair of S-VE hitting errors off Celia Stuart serves, but two Lions miscues tied the score.

From there, the teams were tied three more times, the last at 5-5, with the Lions leading twice before S-VE surged ahead to stay. With Wallace serving, a block by Doolittle and a kill from Diboun helped push the lead to 8-5. Faith Brenchley found a hole in the Lions’ back row, then Wallace followed a Dreyden hitting error with another ace to give the Panthers a 12-5 cushion.

The Lions would narrow the margin to 13-8, but S-VE would dominate the remainder of the set with the 12-2 run. “Sometimes when the team's attitudes start to drop because they've lost a few points. If you can't bounce back, we've all been there as coaches, and I think that might be kind of what happened tonight. Same thing happened to us at IACs, so I understand it. And it's a long season. Keeping them excited about a game is sometimes harder to do. And that's all we can try to do as coaches, keep them going.”

The first game saw Dryden hit a pair of balls out of bounds to start things off as the Panthers opened the match with five straight points.

The S-VE serving and hitting was solid as the home team built a 16-8 advantage and never allowed the Purple Lions to gain any momentum. The Dryden hitters posted four three-point runs during the set, but never got closer than 18-15.

Dryden grabbed the first two points in the second set, but S-VE rallied to go up briefly, 6-4 before the Lions came back to knot the score at six. A pair of aces by Lilyanah Doolittle and two more from Andy Wallace helped extend the advantage to 19-12.

The visitors did manage a four-point run to close the gap to 19-15, but S-VE scored five of the next six points to make it 24-16. Dryden trimmed the lead to 24-19 before Makana Daboun hit the final point off a front row defender.

“The girls stayed on top of it, of everything, and we were also trying a few new things,” Meyers said. “We’ve got some JV players that we've pulled up and I think they're doing a good job, but we kind of want to see it in the mix and stuff.

“It was nice to play a team like Dryden. They hit at you, so you can still work on the digging and stuff and not just free balls and stuff like that. I think the girls did a good job and they stayed excited all night and worked hard.”

Wallace served up 15 points, three of which were aces, and added five digs and one kill. Doolittle finished with seven points (two aces), eight kills and three blocks; Makana Diboun had seven points (two aces), nine digs, two kills and two assists; and Brenchley contributed seven points (one ace), 15 assists, nine digs and four kills.

Kelsea Swayze had six points (one ace), three digs a kill and an assist; Lauren Gillette added three kills, two points and one block; Amani Diboun chipped in with six digs and two assists; Trinity Dashler had four digs and two kills; Hannah Smith pitched in with one block; and Reece Hickey tacked on one kill.

For Dryden, Stuart dished out 20 assists to go with two points, an ace and six digs; Kennessy Drake had five points (one ace), five kills and four digs; and Aubrey Conway added six kills and one dig.

Nora Anderson posted five kills, three points and three digs; Sydney Covell recorded six points and one block; Maysie Davis had five points, four kills and four digs; Emma Deeley registered 20 digs; and Rayna Cole added one point for the Lions.

S-VE (12-2) will head to Tioga Thursday for the pool play semis. The action begins at 3:30 p.m.

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PHOTOS BY SARAH HALL.

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