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Perry volleyball team sweeps with wins over Hubbard, Mooney
The Cardinals defeated the Eagles at Classic
Hubbard
A mums fund-raiser by the Hubbard Volleyball Boosters outside the Hubbard High gym Saturday coincided with the Eagle Volleyball Classic inside, where the Hubbard volleyball team — despite losing to Perry in the sixth match of the day — showed that it was no pansy.
“It went back and forth and then they made a couple plays in the end and we didn’t,” Jeremy Porter, Hubbard’s third-year coach, said of the 25-22 defeat to the Pirates in the third set that ended when Hubbard failed to return sophomore Morgan Smart’s ace.
Smart’s serve was a line drive that hit the net, then hugged the top band before spilling over into Hubbard’s side.
“You’ve got to stay aggressive, point-for-point,” Perry’s first-year coach Maggie Lombardi said of sensing victory after her team overcame a 20-19 advantage that a stubborn Hubbard squad held just a few minutes before. “You can’t let up, even on the last one.”
Perry (from Lake County) beat Hubbard in the first set, 26-24, then lost to the Eagles in the middle set by an identical score.
Hubbard’s leaders against Perry were middle hitter Caitlin O’Hara with 13 kills, libero Kiana Martinez with 17 digs and setter Emily Krinos with 34 assists.
Smart’s ace clinched a 3-0 day for Lake, whose record rose to 10-4 following earlier wins over Canton South (25-15, 25-22) and Cardinal Mooney (23-25, 25-18, 25-19).
“We’ve got to get a lot better if we’re going to compete,” Porter said. “We played some good teams here, so we’ll have to work harder in practice.”
Hubbard (10-3) entered the Classic with a 9-1 record, before losing its opening match to unbeaten Mooney (25-17, 25-21).
Cardinal Mooney went 2-1 on the day, including its first loss of the season (Perry).
Against Hubbard, Cardinals senior setter Gina Patella had 22 assists, senior outside hitter Jaclyn Yankle had seven kills and libero Lauren Lottier had 14 digs.
After Mooney’s 25-23 first-set win over Perry, the Cards dropped two straight, 25-18 and 25-19.
“We knew they were a good team, but, not taking anything away from them, we didn’t play our best,” Mooney coach Tony Gorvet said. “We played sloppy, we couldn’t put a ball down and we couldn’t make a good pass. If you do that against good teams, they’ll beat you.”
Mooney finished off the day by beating Canton South, 25-7 and 25-12.
“We put our game back together and played like we’re capable of,” Gorvet said. “We have a big game Monday at undefeated Western Reserve. Unfortunately, we’ll be 10-1 instead of 11-0, but it’ll still be a good game.”
The fifth-year coach said that Mooney’s roster comprises 10 seniors, two juniors and one freshman.
“We don’t have height that volleyball teams are supposed to have, but we’re very athletic and we serve well as a team,” Gorvet said.
He lauded his assistants Brittany Gregory and Sarah Smith, who carried the load for Gorvet when the head coach was under the weather this past week.
Hubbard defeated Canton South (25-19, 25-17).
“We played a little better and came together as a group,” said Porter of beating Canton South (2-11). “We passed the ball better and that allowed us to run our offense.”
Against Canton South, Krinos, a junior, had 19 assists, while senior outside hitter Macey Sarisky had eight kills, one ace and three digs.
Hubbard’s next match is non-league at Salem on Monday, before meeting Canfield — which represented Hubbard’s lone previous loss from earlier in the season — in an All-American Conference Red showdown at Hubbard on Tuesday.