Sheffield's still looking for its first win, but it may have found something on Thursday at Sheffield High School.
Playing in its annual in-school volleyball match, starting at 1 p.m. in front of the student body, "it was our most-complete match of the season," said Sheffield coach Scott Olson.
The Lady Wolverines fed off the crowd and jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the opening game before a 16-25, 23-25, 22-25 loss to Brockway.
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Times Observer photo by Tyson Himes
Team defense
From left, Abby Labesky, Juli Ely and Maddie Fiscus form a defensive wall for Sheffield on Thursday afternoon in an in-school match against Brockway at Sheffield High School.
"We've continued to move forward this week," said Olson, whose Wolverines are 0-8 overall. "I'm sure we're capable of more."
Brandy Rockwell had nine kills and seven digs for the Wolverines, Marlea Sprandle seven service points and one ace, Juli Ely five blocks, three assists and seven digs, Hannah Vile 13 points, two aces and 11 assists, and Justine Barr 13 digs.
"We made some mental mistakes that stopped us from winning," said Olson. "But up until this point, we hadn't really put it together.
"The crowd absolutely helped," he said. "The girls loved playing in this environment, I loved coaching in it, (Brockway) loved playing in it. Every high school athlete should have the opportunity to play in this type of environment. It's loud."
Sheffield fell, 16-25, 23-25, in the junior varsity match. Maddie Fiscus had eight points and Erin Fry four for the Wolverines.
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Eisenhower 3, Oil City 0
Eisenhower's girls volleyball team picked up its second win this week with a 3-0 sweep over Oil City Thursday at Eisenhower High School.
"I hate to use a cliche, but it was a total team effort tonight," said Eisenhower coach Tom Firth.
The Knights (4-4) came out and took an early 10-6 lead in game one and looked to be well on their way to a dominating win. The Oilers put up a tough fight, climbing to within two at 15-13, before Eisenhower was able to rally for a 25-17 win.
Oil City jumped out to a 5-3 lead in game two before Kyla Weber served five straight points to put Eisenhower ahead 8-5. The Oilers came right back to take an 11-9 lead. The teams would trade points until Oil City rattled off four straight to gain a 16-11 advantage. The Oilers looked to be in control, leading 20-16, when Weber again stepped up for the Knights and served eight straight to put them ahead 24-20. Eisenhower went on to win game two 25-21.
"Kyla has been consistently good with her serves this season," Firth said. "She's only had four service errors all season."
Game three was a back and forth affair with neither team able to get ahead by more than two points early. Eisenhower started to pull away, leading 14-11, and forced Oil City to call a timeout. The Oilers were able to rally pulling back even at 22-22. Fittingly it was Weber who took the serve with the Knights leading 23-22 and promptly served two aces to put the game, and match, away.
Weber finished the match with seven aces and Marion Sherer added four aces for the Knights. Lexi Dalrymple had six kills and ten blocks while Courtney Flynn had ten kills and Alyssa Peterson chipped in with six blocks.
"We had some girls pounding the ball tonight," Firth said. "We were aggressively going after balls and our blocking came up big."
Eisenhower won the JV game 19-25, 25-18 and 15-8. Lindsey Keppel scored 22 points in the win.
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Titusville 3, Youngsville 2
This is what Youngsville coach Terry Schrader has been waiting to see.
Youngsville didn't win Thursday night, but it played its most complete volleyball match of the season in a 3-2 loss to undefeated Titusville.
The Eagles actually won the first two games, 25-20 and 25-18 before dropping the final three, 23-25, 22-25, 6-15.
"I've been very frustrated all season and anyone who saw how we played tonight can see why," said Schrader. "This is the type of performance I've been waiting for all season. The girls really showed what they're capable of and really took it to a very good Titusville team."
Youngsville nearly won the match in just three sets as it missed five total serves in a two-point loss in set three.
According to Schrader, Savanna Schoedel and Kennedy Cratty were "a real presence" at the net each finishing with four blocks and "giving the Titusville hitters something to think about." Schoedel added 12 kills and Cratty had nine.
Amber Fox had a strong night at setter with 36 assists and 16 service points. Teammate Arielle Clark finished with nine kills.
In junior varsity action, Youngsville dropped a 2-1 decision, 25-23, 10-25, 8-25. Karissa Cratty and Tobi Robinault each had five service points.
The Eagles return to the court Tuesday at Sheffield.