JV volleyball wins McDowell Tournament!

The JV volleyball team poses for a picture with their shirts after winning the McDowell Tournament on Saturday.

Report by Mark Brenner

Corry Volleyball JV Coach

The teams were re-pooled with all first place teams in one pool, all second place teams in a pool, and all third place teams in a pool.  After the re-pool, teams played each team in the new pool for one set to 25. Pool play results were used to seed the tournament bracket, with the top six teams earning a spot in the gold playoff bracket.

Corry Volleyball JV team traveled to McDowell to compete in tournament play on Saturday. The Beavers played hard even though they were missing 4 players, including both starting outside hitters and a starting middle hitter.

Nine teams where divided into three pools and each team in their perspective pools played each other two sets to twenty five. The teams were re-pooled with all first place teams in one pool, all second place teams in a pool, and all third place teams in a pool.  After the re-pool, teams played each team in the new pool for one set to 25. Pool play results were used to seed the tournament bracket, with the top six teams earning a spot in the gold playoff bracket.

Corry was pooled with Fairview and Hickory. Fairview was a good team to start the day with.  They are a ball control type team and had beaten us a couple of weeks ago. It was an opportunity to make up for Corry JV's only regular season loss to date.  The Beavers kept their errors to a minimum and scored when they needed to. 

Hickory was also a good ball control team with lots of long rallies.  Corry hitting errors and serving errors made the sets closer than they might have been, but Corry found a way to pull it together and notch the wins. 

McDowell played us very tough in pool play.  They served hard and had several players that could put the ball down.  We missed serves, had some hitting errors, and did not pass exceptionally well either, leading to our only set loss of the day.  Cathedral Prep sets, both pool play and the semifinal, Corry hit a stretch of very consistent play where all phases of the game were clicking.  It was a Corry steam roller over Prep.

This momentum carried over into the first half of the final against McDowell.  Corry serving kept them out of system and tamped down their enthusiasm.  McDowell had 16 players and had the home team excitement, while Corry had 7 players and many less fans in the stands.  Corry serving and efficient and error free offense allowed Corry to build a big lead early, 15-6.  McDowell mounted a comeback, riding strong serving of their own and poor Corry passing, forcing Corry to use both of their timeouts early to stop the momentum change.  With the game tied at 15, both teams traded points and side-outs until Corry opened up a small lead again and closed out the set on a well timed hard hit for a kill by middle hitter Liv Swan.

"Our competition was decent throughout the tournament and that made each set an opportunity to get better.  As the day wore on, players in new roles became more consistent and the team was able to make adjustments to keep ahead of their opponents." JV coach Mark Brenner said.

Katie Downey (normally a right side hitter) had a superb day playing middle hitter.  Both Downey and Swan defended the net well, and scored many kills whenever we were in system.  outside hitters Naomi Brown and Jordyn Watrous handled the out of system offense, both scoring and keeping the ball in play. Defensive specialist Delaney Church and libero Mikayla Comitz passed and defended our side of the court with great energy. Setter Maci Kemp led the offense and connected very well with each of the hitters.  Corry serving was overall, outstanding.  Watrous led off our serving and only missed one serve all day.  Everyone got lots of playing time and contributed to the win.  Another day of learning, getting better, and having fun!

The next regular season match is at home on Tuesday vs Northwestern where the JV team will set the stage for what is sure to be an emotional night as it is senior night. JV scheduled for a 6:00 PM opening serve with senior festivities and Varsity action to follow. The match will be streamed live on the DeeJ Experience Sports Stream. www.deejexperience.com

Corry Pool Play Scores Pool: (5W, 1L)

·      Vs. Fairview W (25-21), W (25-8)

·      Vs. Hickory W (25-20), W (25-23)

·      Vs. McDowell L (17-25)

·      Vs. Cathedral Prep W (25-8)

Semifinal (one set to 25)

·      Vs. Cathedral Prep W (25-19)

Final (one set to 25)

 ·      Vs. McDowell W (25-20)