Girls volleyball: St. Viator storms back to beat Harvest Christian

After a horrendous start to the season the St. Viator girls volleyball team has fought hard to get its record to .500.

On Thursday night it was another uphill battle to stay above .500. With its back against the wall St. Viator rallied for a 24-26, 26-24, 25-22 nonconference win at Harvest Christian to improve to 12-11 after a 1-8 start to the season.

St. Viator trailed 21-19 in the final game before closing with a 6-1 run.

Kendall Claffey had a huge night for St. Viator with 15 kills and 18 service points, including 6 aces.

"It was a rough start to the season," St. Viator coach Charlie Curtin said. "We're in the midst of putting things back together. We certainly didn't want to take a step back, so this was a big win to keep the momentum going. I liked the way we served aggressively tonight and our hitters were putting the ball away on first contact instead of getting involved in long volleys. "

It was a kill by Claffey that started the 6-1 run at the end of Game 3. She then served for 4 straight points, including an ace.

"That was probably the best game of Kendall's career," Curtin said. "She was aggressive attacking and her serving really helped keep us in the game."

Claffey also had a match-saving kill in Game 2 when she tied the score at 24-24. St. Viator went on to score the final 2 points on a Harvest unforced error and a block kill by Rina Rodriguez to force a third game.

"We knew we could come back," Claffey said. "We just had to stay focused. This is always a big rivalry game, so I came here ready to play my best."

Caroline Hickey had 3 big-time kills in the run at the end of Game 3, including one that put St. Viator up for good 22-21 and another one that closed out the match.

"When we are down I try to stay very confident," Hickey said. "I know I can get the ball down, so I want it as much as possible.

Hickey finished with 10 kills.

"She tends to be our go to player in those situations," Curtin said. "We had her matched up against their standout player (Mikayla) Robinson in the first game. But that wasn't wasn't working out very well, so we made the adjustment to get her to the other side and that really freed her up."

Amanda Cassidy had 16 kills to lead Harvest. Robinson added 11 kills.

Harvest (6-5) continued to come up short against much bigger schools, dropping its third straight against tough opponents.

"As much as we hate to lose this is a good experience for us," Harvest coach Mike Bui said. "We have actually played very well and competed in all three matches. It's tough though because we had a chance to win the last two and let them get away. We just have to work on staying aggressive and getting mentally stronger."

Candis Kaplan had a team-high 15 digs for Harvest. Hannah Griffith served 7 aces.