South Side Rams Hometown Volleyball Broadcast Recap – 10/12/2016

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 | 12:19 AM

The Lady Rams of South Side battled hard and hung tough against the visiting Trojanettes of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, but fell short 3-1 (25-14, 24-26, 25-13, 25-16) in a Class 2A Section 2 clash.

South Side jumped to an early lead in the opening set. Sophomore Rachel Pieto’s back-to-back aces to start the match gave the Lady Rams the early momentum. CWNC would battle back with their own success from the service line. The Trojanettes recorded six of their 18 service aces in the first set, four coming from Sammy Robb, and took the opening stanza 25-14.

Momentum swung quickly in favor of South Side in the second set. After a building a 12-5 lead in the set, South Side watched the advantage quickly disappear thanks to a seven point run by CWNC. The back-and-forth battle went in favor of the Lady Rams, as sophomore Samantha Wagner and company began to get into a rhythm offensively. Down the stretch, South Side survived two set points for CWNC and scored the final four points of the set to win 26-24 and deadlock the match.

The final two sets were controlled by Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic as Elizabeth Studebaker and Shannon Spangler began to swing at will. The bounces didn’t go in favor of South Side, and CWNC wore down the hosts 25-13 and 25-16 to close out the match. Spangler led the way with a match-high 10 kills, followed by Alex Dorsch with 9 and four other Lady Trojanettes with five or more kills.

Samantha Wagner led South Side with 9 kills. She also was effective on the service stripe, leading her team on numerous runs while she served for the Lady Rams. Amanda Glenn registered 5 kills, followed by Rachel Pieto, Kelsey Blazier, and McKenna Smith with four kills a piece. Pieto and Elaine Robertson had three aces each.

The Lady Rams offense, which has struggled at times this year, was much more crisp and effective thanks to the impressive team passing. Pieto and libero Alexis Chiccarello had countless digs in the back line off of the incredible serving of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic. Setters Robertson and Smith set up the offense well from the front for the heavy swingers.

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (6-3) all but wraps up third place and a playoff spot with the victory. Coach Jason Benkowski’s South Side (3-7) Lady Rams still control their own playoff destiny. With victories in their final two section matches (at Quaker Valley and vs. Hopewell), South Side can clinch the fourth and final playoff spot out of Section 2.

Tags: Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, North Catholic