Hernandez, Maroons put away Larkin in 3
Elgin's Brandi Hernandez only practices jump serves at practice. It's rare to find the Maroons' junior standing and serving.
But as Hernandez took control of the serve with Elgin trailing 20-12 in the decisive Game 3 at Larkin Tuesday, she had no idea how much practice her standing serve would get.
And practice made perfection.
Hernandez served until Elgin closed Larkin out with a 13-0 run to take a 25-20 victory in Game 3, and win the Upstate Eight Conference match 26-24, 14-25, 25-20.
"It was so nerve-wracking," said Hernandez, who had missed her 4 previous serve attempts. "I had the psychology to just get it in."
Hernandez, who is a 63 percent server, slowly knew that things were starting to go Elgin's way as the team fought back.
"As soon as all of the girls started smiling," Hernandez pinpointed as momentum-turning moment. "When they called the timeout, we all started cheering."
Ellen Holton finished with 5 of her 7 kills during Elgin's final run, including the match-ending point. Elgin (10-9-2, 2-3) also got 2 of Kendall Martin's 7 kills in its final 13 points.
The boost in offense came with a switch in philosophy.
"Me and Kendall decided to just tip it," Holton said. "We were trying to go to the corners the whole first and second game and they were getting it. We decided to go to the corners and it worked really well."
Larkin (5-16, 1-5) had prevented the Maroons for doing much of anything for the entire second game and the beginning of the third. Junior Isadora Borrero (3 kills, 5 aces) rattled off 4-straight aces which allowed Larkin to jump to a 6-1 lead in game 2.
The Royals never trailed and easily won 25-14.
The Royals also got huge hits from Amanda Lye (6 kills) and Jessica Harris (8 kills, 9 digs).
"We had the energy," Larkin coach Gail Johnson said. "We had the frame of mind in the second game. We were aggressive. The third game we started off pretty strong, them we struggled."
Larkin broke open a back-and-forth game to take a 20-12 lead off of a Harris kill. The Royals also got 3 aces during that stretch. Elgin recorded 6 hitting errors in allowing 20 poin ts to Larkin, but played flawless ball in the final 13 points.
Lindsey Morrow finished with 5 aces and Abbey Houde added 17 assists.
"I called that timeout when it was 20-12 and told them that they had a long road back; a road that they built themselves," Elgin coach Keith Foster said. "I let them do that. It was all them."
Claire Sherman tallied 11 digs and Marie Castillo (18) and Liza Smithberger (17) combined for 35 assists for Larkiin.