Hometown Volleyball Match Recap – South Side Rams

By: Bruce Markey
Thursday, September 25, 2014 | 11:03 PM

In Hometown Girls Volleyball action at South Side High School in Hookstown, PA., the Our Lady Of Sacred Heart Chargers defeat the home standing Rams by a 3-0 match score and remain undefeated at 7-0 in single A section 4. South Side falls to 5-2 with their only two section losses coming at the hands of the Chargers.

The match for first place was as advertised as the Rams came out strong in game one and led 6-1 early. Each team had a strong cheering section and the gym was loud. During time outs they took turns chanting for their team. A great atmosphere for Volleyball.  However both  teams were sloppy and each made critical mistakes in the early parts of the game. OLSH made several service errors, and South Side had miscommunication on defense that led to several Charger points. OLSH took a 9-8 lead and held it until the Rams tied it at 17-17. The Chargers surged ahead and looked to have it won with a 24-20 lead, but the Rams charged back to tie 24-24. OLSH head coach Mike McDonald called consecutive time outs and it worked as his team would score 3 of the last 4 points to win game one 27-25. Alexis Dhayer a Senior for the Rams dominated on offense and led the charge back on offense.

In the second game OLSH had the early lead, but South Side had it tied at 8-8. The Rams would lead until 16-16. But the Chargers went on  a 12-6 run and would eventually win game two 25-22. In the second game both teams played better on offense with less mistakes, Senior Emily Deluca led the way for the Rams with her service, she kept the team in the game during a critical time.

Game three was all OLSH after 8-8. Ending the game on a 17-10 run. The Rams were tired, and had their heart taken after two close losses in the first two games. The Rams made too many errors and could not recover. The Chargers took advantage and held on to 1st place in the section with the 3-0 win.

After the Game head coach Jason Benkowski said ” I’m proud of this team, we battled, Id love to play a game like this every night. The first two games could have went either way and we could have led 2-0″. This Rams team led by seniors Dhayer, and Cheyenne Seik look forward to a possible rematch with OLSH. That would be if they both meet in the WPIAL single A playoffs. “We would love to see them again” said Seik. “It sure was fun hearing the crowd tonite, I love it.”