Patriot sophomore Destiny Norman defends at the net for PH.
Coming into Tuesday night’s volleyball match in the Cave Spring gym, Patrick Henry knew it needed to neutralize the Knights power game at the net.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, it became like trying to stop a runaway train.
Pulling out to dominating leads in each game via their play at the net, Cave Spring rolled to the 3-game sweep 25-18; 25-9; 25-16.
“We didn’t have our A-game tonight,” Patrick Henry head coach Patti Sheedy noted after the match. “I was proud of the way our girls got back in it in the first game. Cave Spring has a lot of weapons that are hard to defend against.”
The Knights wasted little time in setting the pace. Cave Spring scored the first ten points of the opening game before PH made its best showing of the night by cutting the lead to 15-12 midway through.
“We had things going to start,” Cave Spring head coach Tamalyn Tanis said. “But, we need to stay focused on fundamentals. We had a ten point lead and gave it up. You won’t be able to do that down the road.”
Following a timeout, the Knights pushed their lead to 18-12 with power shots, including a monster kill by senior Tessa Klimaitis that energized the team to the 25-18 win.
Game two saw the Knights break away from a 4-4 tie to go on a 17-2 run for an insurmountable 21-6 advantage. Cave Spring coasted to the 25-9 win.
The third game had Cave Spring take leads of 8-1, 14-4 and 19-8 before substitutions reigned on both sides of the net leading to the 25-16 match clincher.
“We came out strong for sure,” Knights 6’2″ junior Piper Roe noted after the match. “Last year we underestimated people. This year it’s one game at a time.”
Although Cave Spring has yet to drop a single game in any of its six straight wins to open the season, Tanis is not satisfied.
“We need to keep improving,” she pointed out matter-of-factly. “I’m always the perfectionist.”
Roe led the Cave Spring attack with 10 kills, while Charity Klimaitis added 9 kills and sister Tessa blasted down 6 along with 3 blocks. Meagan Harrison set the table for the Knights with 27 assists. Fallon Delp was 21-for-21 on serves and brought up 10 digs.
Sophomore Taylor Eichelberger led PH with 7 kills and 6 digs. Olivia Pullin had 10 assists and 3 aces for the Patriots.
Bill Turner
