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Champion server sets the tone against Liberty
Dunlap sets tone for Golden Flashes
By BOB ETTINGER
LIBERTY
When the Champion volleyball team is serving the ball well, the rest of the game seems to fall into place. Maggie Dunlap illustrated that well in the Golden Flashes’ 25-23, 25-19, 26-24 victory on the road at Liberty.
“When we get in a good rhythm serving, we keep the energy level up,” Champion coach Megan Wagner said. “That makes the girls want to make the hits and keep that person serving.”
Dunlap finished with 21 points and nine aces in victimizing the Leopards’ defense.
“We have a lot of hard servers this year,” Wagner said. “Maggie had a lot aces and Kaylee Gania has a nice serve, as well. We kept putting pressure on their serve receive. We gained a lot of our leads through our serving. We did a good job of that tonight.”
Dunlap took over the serve with Champion (10-8, 4-7 All-American Conference Blue Tier) leading, 7-6, in the second game. Four aces, a Jacqueline Seman kill and a Liberty hitting error later, the Golden Flashes led, 13-7.
“The biggest thing was a lack of communication,” Liberty coach Millie Manning said. “We lost a middle because she was a transfer and can’t play now and we had to adjust and we have a girl in a new position. That specific rotation has a 40-percent side-out ratio. It was the serve receive and we were not able to capitalize on our hitters in that moment. They seemed to score on us during that rotation most. We lack communication in that rotation and we had to change players.”
Kills from Melina Manning and Becca Horn had the Leopards (10-9, 5-6) back to within a point at 18-17. Dunlap rotated back to serve at 21-19 and closed out the match with another ace.
In the third game, Dunlap had six kills and three aces as the Golden Flashes built a 19-12 advantage.
Allyson Jones had three consecutive kills as the Leopards closed to within three at 19-16. Another Jones kill had Liberty within one, 21-20, and a Champion miscue in the passing game tied it at 21.
Morgan Tenney’s kill followed by her ace closed out the match for Champion.
The Golden Flashes built a lead in the first game and held on for the win.
Tenney (12 kills) and Dunlap (11 kills) combined for 23 kills for the Golden Flashes. Tenney added 10 digs.
“We have a lot of hitters who work spots most of the time,” Wagner said. “We work on corner and line shots a lot in practice. They’ve proven to be successful, especially tonight. We had a lot of points on corner shots, especially our middles.”
The Champion blockers limited the effectiveness of the Liberty hitters.
“The blockers did a really nice job of blocking the ball, slowing everything down,” Wagner said. “They were getting touches on almost everything at the net and that helped the defense to succeed. When we get those touches, they take speed off the ball and it almost pops it up. It’s almost like a free ball and we’re able to get better passes so we can set it up.”
Jones and Melina Manning each had eight kills to lead the Leopards.
“When we played them last time, we beat them on their court in five sets,” Millie Manning said. “They were able to make the adjustments. Their coach is a good coach and she did her homework on what our hitters were doing and they were able to prep on where we were hitting.”