Manchester’s Kameyl Carter. left, goes over the net to attempt a block in action from Tuesday night’s SHAC volleyball match at North Adams High School. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
The serving ability of junior Riley Richey was key in the North Adams four-set win over Manchester on Sept. 7. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Going into Tuesday night’s Southern Hills Athletic Conference volleyball match up at North Adams High School, the visiting Manchester Lady Greyhounds were certainly considered heavy underdogs facing the host Lady Devils. Beyond the fact that the North Adams girls had not lost a conference match since 2018, the Lady Hounds were still missing their setter in Maggie Roberts and their top outside hitter in senior Hannah Hobbs.
With the odds seemingly stacked against the, how would the Lady Hounds respond? Well, they responded quite well and though the final score showed the Lady Devils remaining unbeaten the Manchester squad had nothing to hang their heads about. After splitting the first two sets, the Lady Hounds just seemed to run out of gas and the home team took full advantage, taking the match in four, 25-8, 25-27, 25- 15, 25-12.
The unbeaten Lady Devils (5-0) took quick control of the evening’s first set, jumping ahead 9-3 behind a pair of service aces from Lizzie Gill and a Riley Richey kill. After a Gill tip found an opening on the Manchester side and gave her team a 12-5 lead, the diminutive but powerful Kirsten Campbell stepped to the service line and fired off seven consecutive points, including three aces, and the North Adams lead ballooned to 19-5. Later in the set, it was Keetyn Hupp who finished things off with a kill and two aces as the Lady Devils handily took the opening set 25-8.
The second set was a different story as the Lady Hounds looked like a totally different squad. Though North Adams again raced out to an early lead, going up 7-2 after a Sierra Kendall service point. Back came the Manchester squad, paced by some stellar play at the net from Kameyl Carter, and the solid serving of Zoey Fuchs. With Carter now serving, the Lady Hounds grabbed their first lead of the night at 9-8 in what was turning out to be a see-saw second set.
The two teams vegan to swap points, with North Adams grabbing the lead back at 13-12 and then a series of service errors began to plague both sides, and a later service point from Carter tied the score at 21. The next two points went to the home team , but another service error and a service ace from Emilee Applegate evened things at 23. The two sides then traded the next four points, leaving the score tied at 25 after another North Adams error. Manchester’s Ashleigh Dunn then stepped to the serve, and aided by a Rideout kill, claimed the final two points in an exciting 27-25 second set triumph.
“I want to compliment Manchester,” said North Adams head coach Katie Ragan. “A lot of times when you beat a team 25-8 in a set, it wears them down for the next set but Manchester definitely did not. They came out with the idea that they were going to get that next set, while we came out with the idea that ‘hey, that was easy’. We made some silly mistakes at the start of the second set and then my girls all got to laughing because, belive it or not, one of our players had her own gum stuck in the back of her hair. But gve Manchester credit for coming after us in that second set but we have to do a better job of being ready at all times.”
Though they dropped the second set, the Lady Devils did see history made as senior Setter Sierra Kendall picked up her 2,201st career assist, breaking the school record formerly held by her older sister Sydney.
The Lady Devils aren’t used to losing sets in SHAC play and the shock didn’t seem to wear off as a series of Rideout serves led Manchester to an early 9-4 advantage in the third set. The wake-up call for the home team came from Richey on the service line and a sudden barrage of kills at the net. Richey served six consecutive points and get kills in the run from Katelynn Boerger, Gill, and Brea Stout as North Adams grabbed an 11-9 lead.
Another big service run, this time by Campbell, began to distance the Lady Devils from their guests, giving them an 18-12 lead. After Manchester picked up the next two scores, senior Jadyn Wright rattled off four straight service points, getting two Hupp kills to assist, and a later ace from Kendall wrapped up a 25-15 third set win for the Lady Devils.
The energy they brought in the second set may have been the undoing for the Lady Hounds as they began to look a bit fatigued in the fourth set, one that was totally controlled by the Lady Devils. North Adams poured it on in what was to be the match’s final set, roaring to a 17-5 advantage, with Hupp adding five more kills in that span. North Adams continued to hold the big lead and to polish off the night and another SHAC win, a kill from Richey was the final point in a 25-12 third set victory that also gave the match to the home team at 3-1.
“We missed way too many serves tonight,” Said Coach Ragan. “As a team, I think we missed 15 serves and a varsity team just cannot miss that many serves in a match. We don’t try to serve aces, I’m fine with serving the ball on and volleying for the point.”
On the stat sheet, the Lady Devils wer again led by the duo of Hupp and Kendall, with Hupp garnering 22 kills and Kendall adding 40 assists. Lizzie Gill and Riley Richey had 6 kills apiece with Katelynn Boerger adding 5.
Both teams were in action the next night, and both picked up victories. The Lady Hounds traveled to Ripley and swept the Lady Jays in straight sets for a conference win, while North Adams hosted Portsmouth Notre Dame in non-conference action and improved their season mark to 6-0 with a four-set victory.
