WATERFORD — The Corry varsity volleyball team won back-to-back District 10 championships Thursday night with a 3-0 sweep against the Cathedral Prep Ramblers.
Head coach Kelly Goodsel highlighted the environment throughout the match created by the Beaver fans who made the trip to Waterford.
“What a great environment tonight,” Goodsel said. “The Corry fanbase traveled well and made a huge difference in this match. I can’t wait for the home playoff match next Tuesday.”
The first set was all Beavers. After a brief tie early on, the Beavers pulled ahead with a 9-2 run (11-4). They came away with a statement 25-9 win for the 1-0 lead.
Corry jumped out to another early lead in set two and hit 10 points up by four (10-6). The Beavers maintained their lead past the set’s midpoint and forced a Prep timeout, which landed the score at 17-13. After the timeout, the Beavers went on an 8-3 run to finish the set with a 25-16 win and the 2-0 lead.
Set three started out more competitively with the Ramblers turning an early 4-1 deficit into a 5-5 tie. Corry regained control with a 9-2 run that forced another Prep timeout (14-7). The Beavers continued to pull away (24-13), and Prep only scored one more point. Corry took the set 25-14 and put the match away with a clean 3-0 sweep.
Goodsel credited the team’s passing and defense as key to their performance.
“I thought our serve-receive passing and awesome defense were the difference in the match,” Goodsel said. “Our serve-receive passing allowed us to run our offense efficiently, and our defense was all over the place.”
Grace Allen finished with a team-high 16 kills. Regain Kemp wasn’t far behind with 14. Rylee Nickerson landed six, while Haley Mumau and Kendall Donoghue each had two. Ava West contributed a kill shot as well.
Mumau led the way in assists with 31. Ava Hallberg finished with seven. Nickerson, Sydney Mineo and Brynley Watrous each had one.
Defensively, Mineo finished on top with 15 digs. Kemp had 13, Allen had 12, Mumau had 10, Watrous had five, Ali Yetzer had four, and Nickerson had three. Hallberg, West and Ellie Carey had one apiece.
Corry had a big night at the net, with Kemp recording five blocks and Nickerson with four. Mumau and Donoghue recorded two, and West also had one.
Allen had three aces at the service line. Mumau and Nickerson each had one, too.
As a result of winning District 10, the Beavers will return home to the East Gym Tuesday, Nov. 4, to start their state playoff run against the third-place team out of the WPIAL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League).