Beavers double sweep Grape Pickers
- Scott Lockwood
- Oct 10
- 5 min read
Report By Kelly Goodsel
Corry Volleyball Head Coach
North East, PA- Corry volleyball moved to 12-0 with sweep over North East. In a match-up between the only two undefeated teams in Region 4 play, Corry completed their eighth straight sweep and 11th over all on the year as they defeated North East 25-15, 25-17, 25-18.
Corry took control of the match early with tough serving and an efficient offense. The Beavers jumped out to an early lead in set one on strong serving by Regan Kemp. North East scored their first point by blocking Grace Allen and then tied up the score at 3-3 on a kill by their big middle, Jalyssa Wicker. Corry went on a 6-0 run with kills by Allen, Rylee Nickerson, freshmen Ava West, a block by Kendall Donoghue and Allen, and a service ace by Rylee Nickerson forcing a timeout at 9-3. Corry expanded the six-point lead to eleven (19-8) with the last three points all scored by Regan Kemp, a kill and then two service aces. Senior setter Ava Hallberg continued with the hot hand, assisting on three more Kemp kills sandwiched around a kill by sophomore opposite hitter, Naomi Brown, closing out the set 25-15.
The second set was much more competitive early, with North East and Corry exchanging points all the way to 12-12. Rylee Nickerson had a kill out of the middle and after a Kemp back row kill on an assist from senior Sydney Mineo, Nickerson served an ace and Corry was up 18-14. A kill by Corry’s right side freshmen Ava West made the score 20-15 and North East took their first timeout. Corry closed out set 2 with a 5-2 run and was in control of the match.
In the third set, North East got out to a 8-5 lead before Allen, Nickerson, and setter Haley Mumau got consecutive kills and the score was tied 8-8. Corry went on a 10-4 run on more offensive scoring by the lady Beavers; Kemp, Mumau on an assist from junior defensive specialist Ellie Carey, and an Allen kill made the score 18-12 when a collision by two North East athletes delayed the game for a moment. That delay allowed North East to regroup and they fought back to only a two point deficit (19-17 Corry) and forced a Corry timeout. The lady beavers responded well to the timeout conversation, finishing the game on a 6-1 run on kills by Corry middle hitters, Kendall Donoghue and Rylee Nickerson, both assisted by Ava Hallberg.
“Our focus was to come out fast tonight, given our recent performances, we’ve had a tendency to start slow or dig ourselves a hole that we had to fight back from. Our goal was achieved, leading early and often in the first set. Our two setters, Ava Hallberg and Haley Mumau were connecting well with our hitters: Regan Kemp had 13 kills on 26 attempts, Rylee Nickerson had 5 kills on 8 attempts, and Ava West had 3 kills on 8 attempts… and the three combined only had one hitting error… that’s really efficient offense: 21 kills on 42 attempts!” emphasized Coach Goodsel.
“Defense and serve receive was led by seniors - libero Brynley Watrous and defensive specialist Sydney Mineo. We didn’t know if the match would go 3 or 4 or 5 sets, so getting solid performance by our junior specialists Ellie Carey and Ali Yetzer (in the back row for Allen and Kemp) was important as well” noted Goodsel.
With the win Corry remains a perfect 12-0 on the year, 8-0 in Region four and unofficially locks up a share of the Region 4 championship. Corry has a match on Tuesday against Northwestern on Senior Night and North East plays at Cathedral Prep. If we assume Corry
wins on Tuesday or North East falls to Cathedral Prep, or both things happen… Corry will secure the region four title outright which would make it the third Region title in a row for the Beavers.
Both the varsity and JV will participate in tournaments on Saturday. Varsity is at Cochranton and the JV team is at the McDowell tournament. Corry volleyball will have two matches next week, Tuesday Corry hosts Northwestern on Senior Night where we will celebrate the careers of Ava Hallberg, Brynley Watrous and Sydney Mineo; then on Thursday, the lady beavers will host Saegertown in a non-region match.
Report by Mark Brenner
JV Volleyball Coach
Corry JV also pulled of a sweep over an athletic North East team with superior serving and by controlling the ball better than their opponent when passing and hitting. Corry took the match in two straight sets 25-19 and 25-18
The Corry game plan was to out serve North East and keep our errors to a minimum. Corry served 50 times in the two sets, only missed 3 serves, and served 14 aces. In the first set alone, Corry served 9 aces. The Beavers hitting was not perfect, but it was effective enough to side out when they needed to.
In the second set, Corry and North East had the same number of kills, and the same number of aces, but North East committed seven hitting errors and four serving errors compared to two hitting errors and two serving errors for Corry.
"This is a game where momentum plays a big part." Coach Mark Brenner Said. "When you have a large number of errors, that kills momentum and it is very hard to win. I thought we played pretty focused, and executed the game plan against a decent team."
Setter Maci Kemp had a great night at the service line with long serving runs and six aces. Middle hitter Katie Downey played tight defense at the net, blocking and getting block touches on a few well hit North East balls.
Corry serving leaders were Kemp (14 service points, 6 aces), Outside hitter Naomi Brown (5 service points, 3 aces), and outside hitter Jordyn Watrous (6 service points, 2 aces). Corry hitters were led by Brown and Alivia Swan with four kills each, and Kemp had three kills. Defensively, Libero Mikayla Comitz had eight digs, Watrous had six digs, and DS Delaney Church had five digs. Kemp had 10 assists on the night.
DeeJ Experience wishes both teams the best of luck in their respective tournaments on Saturday. Our next volleyball broadcast on the DeeJ Experience Sports Stream will be on Tuesday for senior night against Northwestern and Thursday against the Saegertown Panthers on Thursday. Catch all the action on the website at www.deejexperience.com or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@deejexperiencellc/streams
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