Much akin to catching fish, the Yellow Jackets used a net to capture the Vikings during last Monday’s adventure into Petersburg covering the volleyball court with a four-set victory: 26-24, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21.
“We came out and got the first two. We got the first two and dropped number three. We were careless and not moving together, so there were some little things. When you look at the paper, we’ve got to get serves in. That is so important and we missed a decent amount of serves and that is something we will work on to carry to our next match in Frankfort,” Moorefield coach Morgan Hill commented.
“We had a bunch of people working in and out today to get the win and it took a total team effort to do it. One of our early big goals this season was to be a team. It takes a team to win. We will put this one behind us and move on to the next one.”
Petersburg took an 8-1 lead before being tangled up by the Yellow Jackets with some kills from Kimberly Minnich and aces served up by Aaliyah Goldizen.
An attack by Petersburg’s Chassitty Stump was saved and returned by Moorefield’s Lauren Arbaugh and the Vikings couldn’t redirect the volley back as a rally started.[private]
Moorefield’s Amber Williams served an ace, but the next serve landed in the net for a 9-3 score and the Yellow Jackets gathered together with a plan netting the next six points to tie the set.
A Vikings error opened the door as Remington Hinkle stepped to the service lien for the Yellow Jackets and delivered three aces plus and Alyson Simmons tapped the ball over the net for a kill.
Another serve by Hinkle was returned into the net as Moorefield tied the set.
Moorefield took a 10-9 lead on a volley by Gracie O’Neill, but the ensuing serve went into the net.
The first set remained close with Moorefield’s biggest lead reaching four points and the Vikings fought back to tie the set four times in the latter part and took a small lead including match point, but Moorefield refused to fold.
A kill by Petersburg’s Hannah Lafferre tied the first set at 12-all, but that was broken moments later on a spike by Moorefield’s Sterling Kump.
However, the following Yellow Jackets serve went into the net before O’Neill recorded two attack points.
Hinkle launched an attack and the dig by Petersburg’s Sadie Dayton deflected out, 16-14.
Minnich had a point develop as a dig by Kump ricocheted out of play, then the Yellow Jackets responded with a kill by Williams.
There was some good movement at the net before the Vikings hit the ball too deep Moorefield’s Kaleigh Hunt added a tap style kill for a 19-15 advantage.
After a serve went out of bounds, Hinkle blocked a volley by Stump.
A couple error and two aces served by Stump locked the Vikings up with Moorefield at 20 points apiece.
That changed for a minute as the Yellow Jackets took a 22-20 lead on two push style attacks by O’Neill with one hitting the floor and the other turned into a double hitting violation.
A serve went awry and the Vikings notched a spike from Morgan Whetzel and Lafferre garnered a 23-22 lead with a kill.
The next Petersburg attack sailed out as the set was tied once again, then Moorefield’s Hailey Biser served the ball with it crossing just over the back line.
After another service error for the Vikings this time, Hinkle launched an attack and the dig by Petersburg returned into the net.
O’Neill finished the first set earning the 26-24 Yellow Jackets win on a serve that was met with a dig by Stump and ricocheted out of bounds.
Moorefield fell behind 11-3 in the second set at the Vikings had a pair of aces served by Lafferre and Minnich during the stretch, but the Yellow Jackets revved up comeback engine.
A service error for Stump after an ace served gave Moorefield the chance to serve and Simmons stepped up.
O’Neill created three consecutive points off attacks as digs but the Vikings went awry, then Simmons delivered an ace as the Yellow Jackets buzz was getting louder than the nearby cricket next to the bleachers.
The following serve by Simmons was returned into the net and O’Neill slammed a spike to cut the deficit down to 11-9.
After a kill by Lafferre, the Vikings had an attack fly beyond the doorway in the gym.
Hunt kept the momentum going for the Yellow Jackets serving up an ace and Sterling Kump blocked a volley to tie the set at 12-all.
Petersburg regained the lead on a service error and a kill by Minnich, but the Yellow Jackets responded with a block by Hinkle and a tap kill from O’Neill to tie the set again.
Attacks by Minnich helped the Vikings create a small lead at 17-15.
Moorefield countered with attacks by O’Neill and Hinkle and the concentration at the service line by Hinkle proved beneficial in manufacturing three consecutive aces to take a 21-19 edge.
An attack by Kump was met with a dig by Dayton and returned into the net, then the net swallowed a dig by Hinkle off a volley by Petersburg’s Whetzel.
Kump made block with a simple tap reaching up and O’Neill executed a push kill off a set from Simmons giving Moorefield a 24-22 lead.
After a serve out, O’Neill’s attack deflected off two Viking dig attempts and failed to be saved as Moorefield collected the second set win by the score of 25-23.
The Yellow Jackets showed their resilience when falling behind once again, but the third set wasn’t a charm as Petersburg collected a 25-20 win to avoid the sweep before Moorefield finished off the match in the fourth set with more intensity.
One of the highlights of the third set for the Yellow Jackets was O’Neill serving four consecutive aces during a stretch closing the gap to 14-12, but Petersburg responded scoring six out of the next seven points for a 20-13 advantage.
Simmons and Kump made some big spikes during the third set for Moorefield, but not enough to keep the Vikings from stealing one set away.
Moorefield took an early 6-1 lead in the fourth set highlighted by Amber Williams’ delivery of three straight aces and a couple of attack points from Simmons.
O’Neill mastered the net area with blocks and kills for the Yellow Jackets maintaining a 14-9 lead.
Hunt and Kump were in on the net action firing off volleys for points as Moorefield kept the pressure coming against Petersburg.
The Vikings remained patient waiting on errors and had some attack flurries of their own from Minnich and serves from Stump and Lafferre.
Moorefield finished the fourth set match point on a spike by Simmons for the final score of 25-21 and 3-1 overall.
In JV action, Moorefield won 2-1 over the Vikings 25-17, 17-25 and 25-14.
The Yellow Jackets have the tenacity to swarm the use of the net to capture opponents like Petersburg with the right amount of finesse and pressure this season.[/private]