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York turns up the heat, sweeps Addison Trail

Just when it looked like the York girls volleyball team might be extended to three sets Tuesday night, the Dukes turned up their game a notch and made sure to leave Addison Trail in time to get home and work on some school work.

After claiming the opener 25-22, York fell behind the host Blazers 19-15 following an ace by Addison Trail's Nina Muell and then a Dukes hitting error.

But sophomore Gigi Barr and her teammates responded well and rallied for a 25-21 win the second set to complete the sweep. Kills from Barr and Jessica Levy started the comeback and later a diving dig by Katherine Norgle ended up dropping on the other side of the net for an improbable match-ending winner.

"What I tell my team when it's getting close and when we've won the first game is that we're not going to three (sets)," said Barr, a 6-foot-1 sophomore outside who had a match-high 15 kills. "There's no point in wasting your energy. Just finish it right now. We've got homework to do."

York (3-3) jumped ahead in the first game 8-2 behind a pair of Barr kills and a big block from the team leader. But the Blazers fought back and hung tough throughout, trailing just 23-22 following a kill down the left sideline from Muell, who paced the Blazers with 7 kills and 3 aces on the night.

The Dukes, however, closed out the set as Sydney Krueger tipped a winner for the 24th point and a Barr dig set up Levy's kill that gave the visitors the game.

A block by Barr had York up 14-10 in the second game before the Blazers used some strong serving and defense to go on a 9-1 run for a 19-15 lead before the Dukes recovered to complete the sweep.

"I think I'm definitely one of the pressure players on the team," Barr said. "I'm one they can go to because they know I won't crack under pressure. When I tend to mess up I think next point I have to get it back. I have to get that point back for my team."

For Addison Trail, senior setter Sam Pociecha had 7 assists and sophomore setter Amy Reyes had 9 in the tough loss. Pociecha likes what she's seen so far from the 2018 version of the Blazers.

"I just think that we played together well as a team to be honest and at some points we were really down and we got ourselves back up," she said. "We continued on going up. Instead of up and down, up and down all the time. I think we were very consistent with that."

Sophomore middle Ally Severino had 6 kills and 2 blocks for Addison Trail, while libero Pauline Wirbicki had 11 digs. For York, Levy added 14 digs on defense to go with her 10 kills, while Norgle had 23 digs and Grace Meadows had 23 assists.

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