Eisenhower’s Paige Edwards battles a Union player at the net during the third set of their match at Eisenhower High School, Monday, Sept. 16, 2019. The Damsels swept the Knights, 25-18, 25-19 and 25-19.

All three sets in Monday’s volleyball match between Union and Eisenhower played out the same way in the John M. Neese gymnasium.

The Damsels and Knights played evenly until one team reached the 15 point mark. At that point, Eisenhower began making costly mistakes that allowed Union to pull away and the Damsels swept the Knights.

“We got tentative,” Eisenhower coach Scott Olson said. “Credit to them, they kept the ball in play. They made plays and we didn’t.”

Union jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but Eisenhower responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead. The Damsels pulled to within one multiple times, but couldn’t tie. The Knights started to pull away and held a 14-10 advantage. Union came back to tie at 15-15 and retook the lead at 16-15. An ace put the Damsels up 17-15. The Knights began making some unforced errors and the Damsels were able to put the set away with a 25-18 win.

“We passed well and moved well,” Olson said. “We changed our warmup tonight and you could see the difference. But when the score got close we got tight.”

Eisenhower took the early lead in the second, but Union clawed its way back in it and took leads of 7-5 and 8-6. The Knights came back to take an 11-8 lead. Union tied the set at 11-11 and the teams traded points until a Rayna Hultman ace tied the set at 14 and a Paige Edwards kill gave Eisenhower a 15-14 advantage. Again, Union took advantage of Eisenhower mistakes to pull away and take the set, 25-19.

“We’ve got to clean up the mental errors,” Olson said.

Union took a quick lead in the third and was able to keep Eisenhower at bay through most of the early points. The Knights were able to tie things at 10-10 and pulled ahead 13-11. The Damsels retook the lead only to see the Knights tie it again at 16. But for the third straight set, things began to unravel for the home team from that point. Union took the next three points and held off Eisenhower to complete the sweep with a 25-19 win.

“We knew we had to put the ball away against this team,” Olson said.

Olson did see some bright spots throughout the contest.

“Emiley (Wheeler) played well defensively, especially for her first year being in the back row,” he said. “Rayna set a nice game and our outside hitters played and passed well. We just need a little more.”

Wheeler had three kills, four blocks and four digs. Currie Hultman had three kills, four aces, a block and 12 digs. Rayna Hultman added two kills, two aces, six digs and 11 assists and Edwards had three kills, an ace and six digs.

Union won the junior varsity match, 25-12, 21-25 and 15-13.

Phoebe Tower had two kills and three aces, Logan Grove had a pair of kills and Destiney Nelson had a kill and an ace.

Eisenhower is at Erie First Christian tonight.

– – –

YOUNGSVILLE 3, PORT ALLEGANY 1

PORT ALLEGANY, Pa. – Youngsville volleyball picked up its first dual match road win of the season at Port Allegany Monday.

The Eagles split the first two sets with the Gators, but took the next two to come away with a 25-23, 19-25, 25-21 and 27-25 win. Amber Evans had a strong game at the service line with 26 service points and four aces.

“We really came together for this win,” Youngsville coach Vicky Montecalvo said. “We started to get a little down in the second game but rebounded to take the next two. We are clicking very well as a team and flowing towards the ball to cover each other.”

Kamryn Weissinger led the attack with six kills. Mallory Sherrard had “an amazing passing and defensive game.”

Port Allegany won the junior varsity match, 26-24 and 25-15.

“The girls fought hard and keep growing as a team,” Youngsville assistant coach Sarah Dwyer said.