The Cave Spring volleyball team entered Tuesday night’s match with the Salem Spartans on a perfect roll.
Eight wins to start the season and 3-0 sweeps in each.
Although taken to extra points in the opening game, the Knights kept their record intact with the 26-24; 25-18; 25-14 River Ridge win in the Cave Spring gym.
“In that first game we had it 24-24 with the serve,” Salem assistant coach Russ Danstrom noted after the match. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles. Cave Spring is a very good team.”
Danstrom was filling in for head coach Beth Denton who was sick. Likewise, Salem was missing two players due to illness. To make matters worse for the Spartans, senior defensive specialist Katherine Danstrom, daughter of the coach, went down late in the second game necessitating a ten minute stoppage of play.
“A knee injury that looks pretty severe,” her dad noted. “Despite the adversities, our girls didn’t get down.”
Salem had opened strong in game one, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before Cave Spring came back to tie it up at 7-7. The game went back and forth and was still tied at 24 when the Knights escaped their first loss after Salem committed a net violation and followed with a misplayed return to give Cave Spring the required 2-point margin.
The Knights opened a 13-9 lead in game two and kept the advantage at 17-12 and 21-16 before trading points to the 25-18 win.
Game three saw Cave Spring breakaway from a 11-9 lead to go on runs of 9-4 and 5-1 to secure the match clincher.
Cave Spring head coach Tamalyn Tanis thought her team’s play wasn’t at its best.
“Our serve-receive was pretty good, but the rest of our game was in a lower gear,” Tanis said afterward. “Salem did a good job and we didn’t adjust. That close first game will be good for us because the girls had to pull it out in the end.”
The Cave Spring power attack at the net was once again the key for the Knights.
Junior Piper Roe led the way with 13 kills and 3 blocks. Senior Charity Klimaitis added 11 kills with junior Cait Flippen blasting 7 kills past the Spartan defense. Juniors Alayna Foutz and Fallon Delp anchored the Knight defense with 14 digs apiece.
Salem stats were unavailable after the match due to the Danstrom injury.
Cave Spring improved to 9-0, a feat not lost on senior Tessa Klimaitis. “We’re more driven this year. Just keep improving.”
All eyes now point to next Tuesday night when the defending Group 3A state champion Hidden Valley Titans visit the Cave Spring gym for the first of two regular season matches. The Titans dominated the series in 2013.
“We just need to relax, ” twin sister Charity Klimaitis noted of the huge Southwest County rivalry. “A lot of it is mental. We’ve got to focus on our side.”
As usual, the match is expected to draw a sizable crowd, including the ever-entertaining student sections from both schools.
“We’ve been thinking about this match with Hidden Valley since the season’s first practice,” Charity pointed out.
Bill Turner