A senior shutout

North Point volleyball sweeps Rams

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

"I think the ladies did a great job of keeping their composure when we got down a bunch of points and they never stopped talking and continued to work hard," North Point head coach Karen Steele said. "Communication really helped us pull through this match. Tonight was a special night for us, honoring our seniors and I couldn't think of a better way for them to play their last match."

Game 1 had the Eagles (5-7, 5-7 SMAC) jumping out early, benefiting from McDonough's short serves and senior Kristin Baione's untouched spikes, helping the Eagles to an 10-2 lead.

"We played phenomenal tonight," Baione said. "We've improved communication and transitions and this year meant so much to me. I hope we dominate through the playoffs."

The Rams (6-8, 4-8 after sweeping Lackey on Wednesday night) are known for having consistent serving, but that wasn't the case against the Eagles.

"We are a strong serving team, we just didn't have it tonight," McDonough head coach Carolyn Davidson said. "They deserve to win tonight. They outplayed us."

The Rams rallied back to tie the game at 17, but short serves got them again. Jessica Gordon finished out the match for the Eagles, serving five straight points.

"We worked really hard for this game," Gordon said. "I really hope to play that way through the playoffs because if we do. I know that we will go out there and show that North Point plays some hard-core, team-driven, volleyball."

North Point jumped out in front in Game 2 with a 5-0 lead, but Alexis Furgione got hungry, planting a lightly touched ball that landed in front of Taryn Lowery's foot to put McDonough on the board.

"I knew coming in that they had beaten La Plata [in five games last Monday] and we knew we didn't play our best against La Plata, so we wanted to show our potential and that we are a good team." Lowery said.

With Taryn Smith on fire at the net, the Rams came all the way back and took a 14-11 lead.

Baione's power helped the Eagles regain control of the ball and the combination of Alexis Gayon and T'Keysja Joyner helped the Eagles to regain the lead at 16-15.

The Rams regained the lead back at 20-19, but a serve into the net kept the yo-yo game going again.

Kaylah Bovard's two hard-fought digs saved North Point when the pressure was on. The game was knotted at 25, 26 and again at 27. A sideout call and a push into the net from McDonough's Sydney Atchison gave the Eagles the Game 2 win.

"Even when they had a large lead on us we held on and played our hardest." North Point's Abby Giroux said. "I was very proud when we came back and won."

"They were determined, they outplayed us, Davidson said. "It's their senior night, they deserve this win. I was very impressed with senior Samantha Kruemmel's passing tonight, sophomore Kelsea Morris' defense, junior Sydney Atchison as setter and sophomore Taryn Smith at the net. Smith does a phenomenal job at the net for us."

"We played our hearts out and brought everything we had to the court," North Point's senior Simone Hanna said. "This being my senior year is saddening, but I am looking forward to the playoffs."

The Eagles got things started in Game 3 with an 4-0 early lead, but Atchison helped bring the Rams take an 8-6 lead with her backhanded hits that landed untouched.

Morris and Atchison got some combinations working at the net and widened the Rams lead to 17-7.

North Point called a timeout to get things settled down and Lowery came back with an unreturnable spike that sparked an Eagles five-point rally to make it 17-12.

North Point rallied to tie the game at 22 as Gordon served four straight points. McDonough then scored the next two to bring up game point only to see the Eagles tie it at 24 when Tomesha Jones hit the ball into the net.

McDonough had another chance to force Game 4 up 25-24, but two straight spikes were not returned to bring North Point to match point. At 26-25, Jade Dyson's push went to the Rams' back row and it was not returned over the net, giving the Eagles the game and the sweep.

"It was our last home game so we really wanted to dominate," Dyson said "It was a whole team effort. We really learned how to work with each other on the court. My hopes for the playoffs is that we will play the way we played tonight –– efficiently and intensely."

tshowalter@somdnews.com