So far, so good

The Patriots volleyball team continues its mirroring of last year, beating Merrillville tonight in four games, just like last year.

Merrillville presented a step in class for the young Patriots, even though they did have a losing record coming into the match. The Pirates play a much tougher schedule than our opponents at Argo, and were just coming off the La Porte tournament which included some of the top teams in the region.

Tonight the Patriots found themselves down 4-0 because they couldn't get a spike in. Three CCS hitting errors and a MHS dink kill gave them the lead, but CCS quickly answered. Ally got on track with two kills which were followed by two MHS errors, then a nice block by Olivia and Ally. The game stayed close until CCS went on a 8-1 run, powered by four kills by Ally and kills from Olivia and Lee. The teams traded errors until at 24-16, Ally crushed a back-row kill to give the Patriots the win.

The girls fell behind early again in set two, this time 3-1. CCS tied it at four as the did in the first set, but then fell behind again as MHS scored three straight. The Pirate lead stayed between two and four. Merrillville played better defensively in the set which enabled them to get their offense going a little two. Finally two hitting errors and an Ally kill pulled the Patriots into a 22-22 tie. After MHS scored on a kill, CCS actually took the lead with an Ally kill and a Olivia/Lee block. However, a MHS kill was followed by two Patriot hitting errors gave the hosts the second set, 26-24.

Set three saw the Patriots actually get an early lead. The lead was three after a Mandi kill, 8-5, but Merrillville ran off five straight after that. Neither team lead by more than two after that. Several MHS serving errors were offset by several CCS hitting errors. Both teams played solid defense but couldn't get much offense going. CCS led 23-22 when some confusion about position left a hole that MHS found. Ally scored a down-ball kill, but the Patriots again let a ball drop. Then Ally made a beautiful power dink. What? A carry? Oh well. Ally scored on a spike to even things up at 25, then Faith was called for being in the net when it appeared that a Pirate was the one committing the violation. The girls powered through it, though, scoring the last three points, the last on a nice cross-court kill by Mandi, to take the set, 28-26.

Merrillville seemed to shut down to start the fourth set. Three of their errors led to a 5-0 CCS lead, then after giving up a point, the Patriot scored seven more in a row, mostly from well-placed dinks and Pirate errors. Merrillville picked things up at that point but really couldn't cut into the lead until they got their offense on track and ran off six straight (LGFS, perhaps?) to made it 19-14, CCS. Olivia broke the momentum then with a kill and a block, then Ally took over with three kills down the stretch as the Patriots took game four, 25-16.

I was impressed with the girls' composure in the tight games and overall some good play, including some amazing defensive saves. I also was impressed with the number of fans we had there. I think we had as many fans as the host did.

Tomorrow the girls travel to Schaumburg for games against Schaumburg and Quentin Road. I won't be there, so if anyone wants to file a report, please do so.