Neighbors battle as ’Dores sweep Leopards
Addison Schultz (15) and Allie Monack (9) combine for 24 kills in Frazier wins battle of neighboring districts.
Separated by only 8 miles, it was only a matter of time before Frazier and Belle Vernon Area volleyball met on the court. It’s a series that Commodores head coach Mandy Hartman hopes can continue.
“We love having the chance to play a team like this that has great size and is up in classification,” Hartman said.
The Commodores took advantage of BVA’s lack of serve-receive play and used some powerful swings to pick up a 3-0 sweep on the Leopards’ floor Monday.
Game scores were 25-18, 25-20 and 25-22.
“I always wondered why we never played,” BVA assistant coach Stephanie Flatt said. She was filling in for head coach Henry Mulholland who was out due to illness. “They’re a good quality program.”
The Leopards (1-5) led in each set.
Leading 13-10 in the first after a block and kill by Millersville recruit Hailey Lazur, Belle Vernon had the Commodores on their heels. But after being called for a net violation, the Leps watched as Frazier’s Grace Vaughn served the next seven points to give Frazier (5-2) an 1813 lead. During the run, BVA committed three errors and Vaughn served up three aces.
An Abbey Nichols ace and two Frazier errors pulled the Leps to within 23-18 before a service error and Allie Monack kill gave the Commodores the 25-18 win in the first.
“Our serve-receive is something we’re really going to need to work on,” Flatt said.
In the second, the Leopards jumped out to leads of 6-2 and 12-7 before Frazier found its footing. Six errors contributed to the Leopards’ success as did kills from Lazur and Taylor McDaniel.
McDaniels second kill of the set ended up giving Belle Vernon a 20-16 lead before the Commodores used a time out.
After the break, the Commodores came out on fire as Addison Schultz got a sideout with a kill before Monack went on an 8-0 run to end the set.
Schultz, who finished with a team-high 15 kills to lead the Commodores, had three during the run. Vaughn added a pair and three BVA errors helped end the set at 25-20.
“Addison Schultz was fantastic,” Hartman said. “I can honestly say that I’ve never seen her hit the ball as hard as she was tonight. She was measuring everything and hitting the ball so hard.”
In the third set, the Leopards again jumped out to a lead before four straight kills from Schultz and Monack gave Frazier a 7-4 advantage.
After a Schultz kill went wide, Mallory Wasicek put together a pair of kills with a Commodores’ service error to give the Leopards an 1110 lead.
“It was back and forth there for a while,” Hartman said. “Their size was a problem for us and our hitters constantly had to adjust their timing and swings.”
A Vaughn kill and ace, and a kill by Maddy Salisbury gave the Commodores a 1311 lead.
The Leopards fought back again using another error and another McDaniel kill to tie it up at 13 all.
“When we could get the ball to our setter and our hitters, we had success,” Flatt said. “The problem was we didn’t do a good enough job of doing that. That’s something we have to do a better job at. It all starts with receiving the serves.”
The Leopards pulled back within a point (15-14) after a miscommunication between setter Gracen Hartman and Salisbury, but after another Schultz kill, Salisbury took advantage of a hitting error, a pair of aces and a Schultz kill to give the Commodores a 20-14 lead.
McDaniel had a three-point run from the service line and freshman Aubrey Brown cut the lead to 24-22 with an ace before Hartman used another timeout.
Out of the break, Vaughn picked up a kill to close out the match.
“I thought we were very powerful at the net tonight, despite their size. We just had to adjust,” Hartman said. “Addison Schultz was so good and our hitters were really powerful.
“I do think we had too many errors. Hopefully, though, this win can give us a big lift heading into our game at California (Tuesday). It’s always a battle when we go there. A game like this against a higher- classification school is so much better than just being in the gym at practice.”
The Leopards are off until Thursday when they host Albert Gallatin.
