Girls volleyball: Burlington Central cruises past Marengo

Burlington Central's girls volleyball team has made fast starts a point of emphasis this year.

It was mission accomplished against Marengo. The Rockets started strong in both games in cruising to a 25-9, 25-7 Big Northern East victory in Marengo.

With Lexa DeWaard starting at the service line, the Rockets led Game 1 6-0 before the crowd had settled into its seats. Central quickly increased the lead to 8-1 and rolled from there.

In the second game, the Rockets jumped ahead 13-4 and never looked back.

"It's been a focus for us all year, trying to make sure we get off to a quick start," said Central co-coach Meghan Blahnik. "We had aggressive serving right off the bat, and that's been a goal for us from the beginning."

Lexi VanHiel had 10 kills to lead the way for Burlington (8-2, 4-0). Rachel Gaydos had 8 digs, and Megan Lomas added 3 kills.

DeWaard had 10 assists, and Gaby Soto had 4. Soto and Leah Murphy each had 3 service aces.

The Rockets were their own worst enemy at times. Seven of Marengo's 9 points in the first game came on Central service errors. The Indians didn't have a single kill in the first game, and recorded only 2 for the match.

The Rockets improved their serving in the second game and breezed. They broke a 3-3 tie with a 10-1 run. They led 16-7 after a rare second-game service error, but got the serve right back on a thundering kill by VanHiel. Soto then stepped to the service line and served out the match, a run that included 3 aces.