North Adams senior Keetyn Hupp dominated play at the net with 16 kills in the Lady Devils’ three-set win over Minford on August 22. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After suffering a somewhat stunning four-set loss to Fairfield in their season opener, Coach Katie Ragan and her North Adams Lady Devils volleyball squad were back on the court on Monday, August 22, hosting the Minford Lady Falcons in a non-conference battle. This time things went much better for Coach Ragan’s troops as they picked up their first win of the season, downing the visiting Lady Falcons in straight sets, 25-20, 25-18, 25-16.
The opening set of Monday night’s match up was a close one, with neither side able to lead by more than three points until the end. With Minford up 12-9, the Lady Devils used a side out and three service points from Brea Stout to take a one-point advantage. Later in the set it was the serves of sophomore Katelynn Boerger that kept the home team in front, but by the slimmest of margins.
The two teams exchanged points, leading to a tie at 20 all, but then North Adams senior Keetyn Hupp took over, getting a kill, then firing off four consecutive service points, the final one being capped by a Boerger kill that gave the first set to the Lady Devils 25-20.
After taking set one, the home team came out like gangbusters in set two, racing out to a 12-3 advantage, a lot of that due to the strong serving of freshman Natalie Ragan. The Lady Devils maintained their lead as the set progresses, getting service points from Kirsten Campbell along with a trio of Hupp kills, all of which resulted in a 25-18 win and a commanding 2-0 advantage in the match.
North Adams again jumped out early in the third set, with Ragan and Hupp leading the way to a 7-3 advantage. After Minford scored on a service error, four service points in succession by Campbell pushed the lead back out to 12-4. A Boerger kill and serves from Stout kept the North Adams points accumulating, all the way to a 22-11 lead.
The Lady Falcons got five of the set’s final eight points, but that was not nearly enough to dig out of the deficit they faced and the North Adams girls took home the third set 25-16 to sweep the match in three sets.
“We have a new setter and new libero this season and we will still make a lot of mistakes,” said Coach Ragan. “but it’s good to get that first win.”
The stat sheet leaders for North Adams included:
• Keetyn Hupp- 16 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks, 7 digs
• Kirsten Campbell- 17 digs, 1 ace
• Katelynn Boerger- 5 kills, 3 blocks, 1 ace, 4 digs
The season c0ontinued for the Lady Devils with three more non-conference affairs- August 24 at home with Portsmouth Clay, August 25 at Hillsboro, and August 29 at home with Western Latham.
