Hometown Volleyball Match Recap – Freeport Yellowjackets – 09/25/2014

By: Bruce Markey
Thursday, September 25, 2014 | 11:01 PM

The Hornets made the trek from Hermitage, PA and District 10 take face the defending WPIAL Class AA Champion Yellowjackets at “The Hive” in Freeport and the Jackets continued their strong 2014 campaign with a 3 game victory (25-16, 25-22, 25-14) over Hickory.

Freeport jumped out to leads in all three games in the match including a 2-0 start in Game 1. Hickory provided some stubborn and stellar net play, but services errors by the Hornets did not lead to any long point runs and the Yellowjackets won by 9 points.

The second game was the closest and most back-and-forth game of the set, as the teams battled tightly for most of the game. Freeport  took a 3 point lead at 11-8, and the contest was even until Hickory went on a couple of runs including netting 5 of 6 points at one stretch to take a 22-18 lead. Yellowjackets Head Coach Tom Phillips took a timeout and simply told his team to “play Freeport volleyball” as “good teams find a way to win” and the girls obliged, taking the games last seven points for a 25-22 win. Senior Jess Kelley was the key to the run and the victory, scoring 6 of the last 7 points via the serve.

In Game 3, the Jackets jumped out to leads of 3-0 and 7-3 and never looked backed in the 11 point clincher. Freeport scored runs of 7 out of 8 points and showed a strong finish, recording 8 of the games last 9 points, including the last six in the win. Junior hitter Zoe Pawlak keyed the game ending run, using her wicked jump serve to record her only two aces and scoring five straight service points. Pawlak was also strong at the net for Freeport, recording a match-high 15 kills. Junior Morgan Rupersberger added 7 kills for the Yellowjackets, while Kelley added 6. Senior’s Macy Smolic and Karlie Hill each nailed 3 kills for Freeport with Hill adding two aces on the night. Senior hitter Danielle Collier was everywhere including literally on the court at times for Hickory finishing with 9 kills to lead the Hornets. Hope Wilterdink and Nicole LaCava added 4 kills apiece for the Hornets as Lexa Henwood and Katie Gustas each added 3 for Hickory.

Freeport, who entered the game a perfect (6-0) in the WPIAL regular season and in Section 2-AA and ranked #1 in the MSA Sports Girls Volleyball Double-A Top Ten has the weekend off. The Yellowjackets return to the court next Tuesday when they travel to Valley to take on the Vikings. Freeport returns home on Thursday October 2^nd to face section rival Knoch. The match between the Knights and the Yellowjackets can be heard as part of your Hometown Girls Volleyball Coverage on the MSA Sports Network.

Tags: Freeport, Hickory