The Covenant Academy Lady Lions kicked off their volleyball season Tuesday night in McMinnville against the Lady Knights from Lancaster Christian Academy.
The middle school squad was in action first, and in the first set they had the score tied 11-11 thanks to great hustle by Abigail Netherton and skilled serving by Abigail Brown. However, Lancaster Christian took the game 25-13 after some shrewd serving.
Lancaster took the second game as well, to win the best-of-3 match, 2-0.
In the high school match, Covenant won in four sets, 3-1.
Lancaster jumped out to an early 9-1 advantage in the first set before the Lady Lions started roaring back. Anabel Lassiter offered some strong service to get Covenant back into contention. With Lancaster holding a 18-16 lead, Covenant’s Cassie Sharpe had a great volley to get the point for her team.
Then with the score knotted at 18, Lydia Netherton set for Jaelin Stovall, whose spirited hit gave Covenant its first lead of the set. Hailey Sears followed with some strong service, and Netherton continued her precise setting for teammates Stovall and Emma Sharpe. Covenant ended up taking the first game by a score of 25-20.
Lancaster took the second game 26-24, this in spite of some amazing play from Covenant. Mia Onderka had two electric spikes and some serving aces, and Netherton had a spike of her own.
In the third game, Covenant showed energy and prowess all over the court. Onderka had a volley to help put Covenant up 3-0 in the game, and Netherton’s subsequent hits and service kept the resurgent Lancaster from pulling away in the game. Libero Savanna Duggin made hustle plays to keep rallies alive. Covenant looked to be toast in the game when they got down 20-13, but they did not quit.
Stovall’s volley got Covenant to 20-14, and then a spike by Sadie Duggin added another point. Lassiter added some nice serves, and then the final play of the game consisted of Cassie Sharpe spiking one over the net to give Covenant a 2-1 advantage.
In the fourth set, Covenant stayed true to its bread and butter, which was Netherton providing solid setting to Stovall and Onderka.
Covenant took the set 25-23 and won the match 3-1.
Covenant head coach Chris Madewell was pleased with what he saw in his team’s maiden matches of the season. Speaking of his middle school team he said, “The main thing was that we passed well and we set well. We’re not hitting real well right now and younger players have to get used to that. We only have two returning players. The other eight players have never played before.”
Madewell continued, “I was really proud of the way they played, their effort. We’ve got to work on serves and receiving, getting the first pass. We had several sets and hits, which you don’t see a lot in middle school. So I’m glad that they’re playing what I call ‘real volleyball,’ where you pass, set, and hit the ball.”
Madewell said of his high school team’s performance, “In the first game we got down 9-1, and I was a little worried. It was good to see them battle back because we ended the tournament the other day not playing well.”
Madewell added, “Really all night our serves hurt us, but everything else we were doing well. We were getting good first passes, we were getting sets, and we had a lot of hits tonight. The girls stepped up tonight and played well. I feel like because we are so inexperienced, we’re only going to get better. We’re going to get better as the year goes along, so that makes me feel good.”
