Hometown Girls Volleyball Recap – South Side Rams – 09/29/2015

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, September 29, 2015 | 9:04 AM

It may have been a non-section, cross-classification match when Class-AA Quaker Valley traveled to Hookstown take on Class-A South Side on Monday night, but it sure had the feel and the outcome of a playoff clash between two top-notch programs. The back-and-forth match went the full distance with the visiting Quakers winning 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-10).

Each of the first two sets featured a big run at the end of the set to secure a victory in the set. The first set was knotted at 18-18 before the visiting Quakers won 7 of the last 8 points to win the set 25-19. The second set was quite similar with the score tied at 17-17, but this time it was South Side going on a late run. The Lady Rams tallied 8 of the final 11 points of the set to win 25-20 and even the match at one set apiece.

South Side jumped up early in the third set and led 20-14, but gave up seven straight points to allow Quaker Valley to jump ahead 21-20. But again, South Side battled back and put a run together of their own by scoring 5 of the final 7 points and taking the set 25-23. Toni Yacoviello had nine of her match high 26 kills in the third set, and did not have a single hitting error in the set.

The Lady Rams’ momentum riding into the fourth set was quickly lessened when their junior setter McKenna Smith went down early in the fourth set with a head injury. She laid out full extension to get a dig and hit her head on the court. Smith would not return to the lineup. While freshmen Samantha Wagner and Rachel Pieto did a great job in replacing Smith, it was not enough to overcome the loss of the junior, and Quaker Valley would take the set 25-21 to even the match at two sets each. Leah Vester had four of her team high 14 kills in the fourth set.

South Side struggled to get anything going in the decisive set. Quaker Valley’s Emily Truchan and Miasha Beck split six kills in the fifth set en route to a 15-10 victory.

Service errors plagued both teams, as both the Lady Rams and Lady Quakers had 15 miscues from the service line.  Yacoviello had six blocks for South Side, while Olivia Sarson had four for Quaker Valley. Truchan and Claire Rangers each had three aces for the visitors.  Both Quaker Valley (3-2 in Section 2-AA) and South Side (2-2 in Section 4-A) currently sit at fourth place in their respective sections. The top three teams from each section will make the playoffs.