Bartlett's size, poise too much for Elgin
The Bartlett girls volleyball team wasn't perfect against Elgin Thursday night, but the Hawks didn't have to be.
Elgin struggled to return serves of all kinds and had difficulty passing accurately. Those fundamental problems allowed Bartlett, which was effective in spurts, to hand the Maroons a 25-15, 25-19 defeat in an Upstate Eight Conference match.
Bartlett jumped to big leads in both games but couldn't put the Maroons away in a tidy fashion either time.
The Hawks dominated early in Game 1, thanks to the same strengths they would rely on all match long -- senior Megan Mangahas setting 6-foot-tall sophomore outside hitter Carly Sahagian (11 kills), coupled with solid blocking from middles Anna Dudkiewicz (6-1) and Emily Hayes (6-0).
The Hawks took a 20-12 lead in the first game, but Elgin stormed back with 3 straight service points from freshman Kendall Martin.
The Hawks got back on track when an Elgin hitting error was followed by a Dudkiewicz block for a kill of Ellen Holton's tip at the net.
Back-to-back aces on Sahagian's jump serve earned Bartlett game point, which the Hawks won emphatically as Dudkiewicz pounced on an errant Elgin pass that crossed the net for 1 of her 4 kills.
"We're much more advanced than we were at this time last year and we run a lot more plays, but we're a little disappointed because we wanted to win this match by bigger scores," said Dudkiewicz, who finished with 4 kills.
The Game 2 score was 7-5 in the Hawks' favor until Bartlett (11-6, 3-2) won 8 of the next 9 points to take control. During that surge, Sahagian nailed a perfectly placed Mangahas set into the corner of the court with a top-spinning spike and Dudkiewicz killed a wayward Elgin floater at the net before blocking a Martin kill attempt one-on-one.
Elgin (3-16, 0-4) got back in the game by winning 11 of the next 18 points to pull within 22-17, a run culminated by an ace from junior Leah Chimis.
"Elgin came out ready to play today in both games, which was good to see," Bartlett coach Jill Bergmann said. "I don't know always know that about my team yet."
The Maroons pulled within 23-19 on an ace by Martin, a freshman, but the earlier defensive miscues proved too much to overcome as Hayes put 2 balls to the floor on consecutive points to close out the match.
"The only thing we did consistently tonight on defense was not play it," Elgin coach Keith Foster lamented. "Ellen Holton had one of her best games of the year at the net and Kendall Martin was her usual self playing well, but if you can't pass, you can't win."