Salata's heroics not enough for Stevenson

It was far from a volleyball clinic Monday when the Hersey girls volleyball team visited Stevenson.

"It wasn't the prettiest match, but we were able to bring it together," said Hersey senior outside hitter Lauren Dembkowski.

Dembkowski had a lot to do with Hersey's 25-19, 22-25, 25-20 victory.

Although she did not serve her best, she contributed a match-high 13 kills and 16 digs.

Her kill in the third game gave the Huskies a 23-20 advantage. After an ace by setter Shelly Mueller, another Dembkowski kill secured the match.

"She came through for us and put a lot of balls away," Hersey coach Nancy Lill said. "This is just a glimpse of what she can do."

Stevenson received a tremendous individual performance from senior middle blocker Margaret Salata. Salata, who is in her third year on varsity, had 10 kills and 8 blocks, 4 of which were solos.

"This is kind of what we expect from her," said Stevenson coach Tim Crow. "She played great, and Hannah (Burke) did a nice job getting her the ball."

It was a busy evening for Burke. In addition to contributing 22 assists, she sang the national anthem prior to the start of play.

When the match began, Hersey (7-3) immediately took control. The Huskies raced to an 8-2 lead before Stevenson (5-5) came back to tie the game at 10-10. From there, the Huskies cruised to a 25-19 win.

After making 15 unforced errors in the first game, the Patriots played more efficiently and with great emotion in the second game.

"We were in a slump and we wanted to get out of it," Salata said. "We put forth a lot of effort."

Hersey knew it would be OK in the third game if the Huskies could start delivering the ball to their hitters.

"We had ever opportunity to close out the second game," Lill said. "We needed to get the ball to our hitters and let them terminate."

After clinging to a 9-8 lead in the third game, Hersey proceeded to go on a 6-1 run. Stevenson was unable to get closer than 2 points the rest of the way.

Dembkowski, Lill (7 kills), Ann Carroll (5 kills) and McKenzie Forbes (5 kills) keyed Hersey's attack. Mueller had 31 assists and 4 aces. Becca Haraf added a match-high 17 digs.

Salata and Mary Kate Fritzsche each had 10 kills for Stevenson. Unfortunately for the Patriots, they made the same type of mistakes in the third game that plagued them in the first.

"We were making errors at critical times," Crow said. "We took away our own momentum."