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Trojans down Dragons

Warren’s Olivia English (4) puts down a kill between a pair of McDowell players during the first set of their match at Warren Area High School, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019.

Abby Soboleski had a big game from the service line to lead undefeated McDowell to a sweep over Warren volleyball Tuesday.

Soboleski served up 10 aces in the match and the Trojans never trailed by more than a single point in the 25-15, 25-16 and 25-19 win over the Dragons. Her 10th ace closed out the match.

“That serve is really tough,” Warren coach Mike Dolan said. “It has pace and it moves. At the end, we were able to make a couple passes off of it, but they made the defensive play.”

Soboleski got started early, serving an ace on the second point of the match. McDowell (7-0 overall, 5-0 Region 6) was dominant early and raced out to a 12-4 advantage in the first. The Dragons (3-5, 2-3) tried to claw their way back in it, but couldn’t get any closer than seven the rest of the way as the Trojans closed out the set, 25-15.

“This is a good McDowell team,” Dolan said. “They’re big and they do everything well.”

Warren’s Lex Nyquist (5) blocks McDowell’s Corinne Bechtold’s (23) attempted kill during the second set of their match at Warren Area High School, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. The Trojans stayed unbeaten on the year with a sweep of the Dragons.

Jordan Sitler put down a kill to give Warren its first lead of the match, 1-0, to start the second. Sitler and McDowell’s Corinne Bechtold traded kills and the teams played to 3-3. The Trojans took the lead at 4-3, but a Grace Wortman kill tied it back up.

The Dragons couldn’t put consecutive points together after an Olivia English kill made it 5-5. McDowell then began to pull away. Sitler put a tip over the net to close the gap to 9-7, but the Trojans responded with a 9-0 run to take control of the set. Soboleski served three aces during the run.

“When you don’t do the little things, it can snowball,” Dolan said.

Trailing 22-13, Warren got the next three points, including a big block by Lex Nyquist on Bechtold. A service error ended the run and the Trojans closed it out on the next two points.

McDowell got the first four points of the third, including back-to-back Soboleski aces. Nyquist came up with another block to get the Dragons on the board. Warren battled to try to get back even. A Wortman kill closed the gap to 6-4 and English put down a kill on the next point to make it 6-5. Bechtold answered with a kill and the Trojans pushed the advantage to 8-5. Wortman’s kill brought the Dragons back to within one at 8-7 and an attack error tied it at 8. Bechtold again answered for the Trojans, but a service error brought it back even at 9-9. McDowell retook the lead, but a Hannah Shattuck kill followed by an English ace put Warren on top, 11-10.

“When we’re in the system, I like the way we do things,” Dolan said.

McDowell got the next three points to go back on top, 13-11. Sitler and Bechtold again traded kills at the net and the Trojans were able to keep the Dragons at bay to go up 17-14. A service error and Wortman kill cut the lead to one. McDowell went back up two, but English put down a kill to make it 18-17. Warren won the next point after a long volley to tie the match at 18. A service error allowed McDowell to retake the lead, but Shattuck had a kill to tie it again at 19. McDowell answered with a 6-0 run that ended with a Soboleski ace to close out the sweep.

“I thought we played some high-level points,” Dolan said. “We need to clean up our passing, but I like the direction we’re headed.”

Sitler led the Dragons with 11 kills. Wortman had seven kills and seven digs, while English added seven kills and two digs. Katie Madigan had 24 digs and Nyquist had seven digs to go along with 28 assists.

McDowell won the junior varsity match, 25-20 and 25-15.

Gracie Gatto had seven digs, Cara Munksgard had four kills and two aces, Lauren Dolan had eight assists, Ellee Irwin and Kirsten Johnson each had two kills and Carley Beers had a pair of aces.

Warren will look to avenge an early-season loss when the Dragons welcome Harbor Creek to the Joseph A. Massa gymnasium Thursday.

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