Hubbard volleyball team cruises again

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By Tim Cleveland

sports @vindy.com

HUBBARD

Under former coach Chuck Montgomery and current coach Jeremy Porter, the Hubbard volleyball program has been one of the area’s best over the years and that tradition has continued this season.

Thursday night, the Eagles gave a perfect example of the kind of team they are with a 3-0 victory over Struthers in All-American Conference American Division play. The scores were 25-10, 25-19, 25-11.

“I think we played well as a team tonight,” Porter said. “Everyone did their job. I can’t really pick out any weaknesses on our side.

“Struthers is a very good, young team,” Porter said. “They have some players that have been putting in a lot of time in the offseason. I’ve seen them on travel teams coming up through as great players.

“We knew that they were going to come and give us a tough one tonight and we stepped it up and did what we had to do at the right times.”

In all three games, Hubbard ran out to an early lead and then closed strong when victory was imminent. Hubbard (6-2, 2-1) led 7-1 in the first game, then ended with a 9-1 run behind Macey Sarisky’s kills (16 in all to lead all players).

“That’s one thing we’ve been really working on, which is finishing games and playing real hard right to the 25th point,” Porter said. “Volleyball’s a tough game because in football and basketball the clock runs out.

“In volleyball, you could be up 24-10 and they still have a chance to win. You can’t really let off in our sport.”

Struthers (6-4, 2-3) played much better in Game 2. The Wildcats got as close as 13-10 as Holly Kane had a kill and a block during that stretch.

“I made some adjustments to their hitters,” Struthers coach Stephanie Muntean said of her team’s improvement in Game 2. “When they hit we knew where to go and we set up our blocks a little bit better. It was a little bit more defensive.”

It wasn’t enough as Sarisky added three more kills and Caitlin O’Hara had another to close things out for Hubbard.

“I think our three seniors stood out tonight – KayLyn Garrett [four blocks], Leah McConnell [nine digs] and Kelly Matanin [32 assists], our setter,” Porter said.

With two games in hand, Hubbard came out strong in an effort to get the sweep. Kiana Martinez’s ace gave the Eagles a 9-4 lead in Game 3.

Garrett had three kills and a block during a stretch that Hubbard extended its lead to 23-11. McConnell had an ace and Sarisky ended the match with a kill.

“I believe we’ve been building; we’ve been getting better every day,” Porter said. “We’re striving to reach our goals towards the end of the season and I think we’re on the right track.”