Girls volleyball: Kofie, Larkin battle back to down Bartlett
As long as Natalie Kofie has something to say about it the Larkin girls volleyball team can never be counted out.
The senior captain played an instrumental role in rallying the Royals back after they dropped Game 1 at Bartlett on Monday night. Kofie had 8 kills, 22 assists, 3 aces, and 6 digs to lead Larkin to a 23-25, 25-18, 25-16 win over the Hawks in nonconference action.
"Natalie is a great leader," Larkin coach Harry Graack said. "She just never quits and that attitude is contagious with her teammates. She did a great job of leading us back tonight."
The Royals (2-0) actually started to turn things around late in Game 1. After trailing 18-12 the Royals surged back to tie the score at 23-23. However, Bartlett recovered to score the final 2 points to take Game 1.
The Royals could just as easily have let down after the disappointing end to the first game, but Kofie wasn't about to let that happen. Instead Larkin came back in Game 2 even stronger. A 7-1 run midway through the second game put the Royals in command with a 14-10 lead. April Price had 3 kills and 4 service points during the pivotal run. Kofie had a kill and 2 service points.
Kofie may not be the biggest hitter on the floor, but can be just as effective with grit and finesse. She had 6 tips for kills that kept Bartlett off balance all match.
"We knew we had to pick up the energy after that first game," Kofie said. "We were beating ourselves with too many mistakes. We came out with a much better attitude in the second game. We had some good service runs and we did a good job of keeping them out of system with our tipping."
The Royals overcame 7 service errors in the second game with a 15-5 kill advantage.
"We had a good understanding of being responsible at the net," Graack said. "It's not always about the big hit. Sometimes if you know it's not there you don't want to force it, but instead keep the ball in play and find some open spots."
The Royals picked it up at the service line in the third game with 8 aces. Kofie, Price, Mackenzie Malone, and Juliana Kurywczak each had a pair of aces.
The Royals trailed 11-9 in Game 3 before a 7-0 run behind the serving of Price put Royals on up 16-11 and on the path to victory.
"The best thing we can do to neutralize our height disadvantage at the net is to serve well," Graack said. "Tougher more aggressive serving is one of the things that really helped us turn it around tonight."
Price finished with 8 kills for the Royals. Kayla Armour added 7 kills, Audrey Shores and Mallory Boulton had 6 kills each.
The Hawks dropped to 0-2 on the season.
"It all falls back to communication," Bartlett coach Melissa Ortiz said. "We had too many communication breakdowns. Then in the third game we struggled with our serve receive."
Megan Regan had 8 kills to lead the Hawks.