Stevenson girtls take control early
It's still early in the season, but things are already starting to come together for the Stevenson girls volleyball team.
The Patriots missed just 1 serve all match Thursday in their annual nonconference clash with Glenbrook South, and committed few mistakes as they topped the Titans 25-19, 25-16 and improved to 2-0.
"Our ball control is pretty good," said Patriots coach Tim Crow. "We made very few errors tonight, only really in one stretch did we make multiple errors. We stress taking care of the ball in practice, and focus on limiting silly errors. Our girls are starting to get used to each other chemistry-wise, and I'm really pleased with where we're at at this point in the year."
Stevenson never trailed in the match, and used a long service run from libero Izzy Shaindlin (10-of-10 serving, 3 aces) to pull ahead 11-3 in the opening game. After Stevenson hit a return long, the Titans responded with a run of their own, tying the contest with 7 consecutive service points.
A net violation by Glenbrook South gave Stevenson the lead back at 14-13, and the Patriots set about closing things out. The Titans struggled to return serves from Mary Kate Fritzsche (5-of-5 serving, 1 ace), who expanded the lead to 18-13.
And after Glenbrook's hitters cut the lead back to 1, Shaindlin put together another run to make it 24-17. The Titans scored the next 2 points, but a kill at the net by Margaret Salata put a stop to that.
"Izzy's been a real pleasant surprise for us," Crow said. "She's a great server, and our whole team served well. One of our strengths this year is our serving, which is important because we're not all that big, and we did that extremely well tonight."
The Patriots again built a big lead early in Game 2, going up 15-5 on a tip by Fritzsche before the Titans had scored a single service point. Stevenson rotated its full roster in during the game, and still held off a late Glenbrook South run to win 25-16.
Stevenson hit the ball well, led by Kelly Hall (12-of-13, 5 kills), Fritzsche (13-of-14, 3 kills) and Amanda Fleishman (7-of-7, 4 kills).
Fritzsche led the team with 8 digs, while Shaindlin had 6.
The Patriots also blocked effectively, with Fleishman, Salata, Michelle Fleischman and Hannah Burke all collecting at least 3 blocks.
And Burke set nicely, finishing 39 of 40 with 8 assists.
"Hannah did a nice job mixing it up," Crow said. "She improved a lot already since our first game. She moves very well, she's a very athletic kid and she's very alert when distributing the ball."
Stevenson next plays Saturday, with five rounds of opponents at the Jacobs tournament.