October 19, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount volleyball bows to Villa Maria
by TOM UTESCHER

In a 2006 volleyball campaign that finds both Mount St. Joseph Academy and Villa Maria chasing undefeated Merion Mercy in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, it was Villa which drew closer to the leaders last Thursday night with a 3-1 victory at Mount St. Joe’s.

Posting game scores of 25-21, 15-25, 25-16 and 25-11, the visiting Hurricanes received 18 kills and a service ace from Jenna Connell as they raised their record to 5-1 in the league and 10-2 overall.

With respective marks of 3-4 and 6-6, the MSJ Magic fell victim to both a powerful opponent and an equally daunting flu bug that afflicted their top two outside hitters. Junior Chrissy Fesnak was out of commission entirely, while senior Katie Kirsch, just recovering from the malady, battled into the third game before coach Sandy Butcher pulled her off the floor.

“I didn’t like what I was seeing; Katie was really hurting out there,” he said later.

Kirsh compiled a dozen kills before retiring from the match.

Five scoring hits from Kirsch, two tips from Sarah McGorry, and two hits from Patrice Mulhern helped the Mount hang with the Hurricanes in the opening game. In the middle of the game a service ace by Michelle McNamara also aided the Mounties as they rallied from a 14-20 deficit to pull back with in one at 21-22. Villa then locked up the win with a hit by Jenna May, an MSJ error, and Connell’s fourth kill of the game.

Villa had attacked the sidelines, particularly the Mount’s left, to net a number of points in the first round.

“We didn’t rotate over enough to pick them up,” noted Butcher. “We corrected that and we also made a couple of adjustments to get a bigger block.”

It was, in fact, a block from McGorry which rallied the Magic after Villa had taken a 9-5 lead in game two. From there, they would outscore the visitors 20-6 the rest of the way. Kirsh collected five kills in the game and McGorry and Mulhern each had three kills, while the Mount received its usual strong setting and defense from Michelle Skowronek and Erin Connelly.

Villa was still close at 15-17 and had the serve, but the ‘Canes gave up the side-out with a hit out-of-bounds, and MSJ’s McNamara came to the baseline to serve out the last seven points of the game. Game point came on a hit from left outside by Kirsh which sent the ball spinning along the net off a Villa block until it landed on the visitors’ court.

It seemed like the Mount was still celebrating its win in the second game while Villa Maria stepped out to a 9-2 lead in the third. Over the next few minutes the Hurricanes built their lead to 17-6, and the Magic’s attempts to get back in the game were hampered when Kirsch had to leave the court. Villa got four scoring hits from May and three kills each from Connell and Margaret DeLong to take a 2-1 advantage in the match.

With Villa now determined to close out the affair and with Kirsch missing for the Mount, the fourth game was over relatively quickly.

“Villa’s a strong team, but we gave a hundred percent out there and we didn’t quit,” remarked Butcher, who was pleased with the performance of Mulhern, a ninth-grader. “She really stepped up. It’s nice to have a freshman show her talents and let you see that she’s going to be a great player.”