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Cameron Wins In Four Sets

Hall leads with five aces, 13 points to beat Madonna

Photo by Cody Tomer Cameron’s Kelsie Meintel prepares to serve during Tuesday’s match against Weirton Madonna.

CAMERON — The Cameron Dragons couldn’t quite finish the sweep in the third set of Tuesday’s home match with Madonna, but they rallied to pull out the victory in the fourth set and take it by scores of 25-13, 25-15, 25-18 and 25-20.

Madonna held two narrow leads in the first two sets, but both times the Dragons quickly regained the lead and finished the sets with victories before dropping the third set in an uncharacteristic manner, only to regroup and finish the match in the fourth and final set.

“Our girls just get down on themselves and sometimes when they make a mistake they don’t bounce back like they should,” Cameron coach Heather Timmins said. “When they pull together and work as a team, they dominate.”

Dominate they did as they jumped out to a strong start in the first set when a 3-3 tie turned into a 14-3 advantage behind an 11-point serving streak by Bailey Hall. That was followed by a four-point streak by teammate Kelsie Meintel to extend the Cameron lead to 18-4 to set the tone. The Blue Dons failed to get the ball over the net on the match point and the hosts took the first set.

Cameron (8-13) took the momentum into the second set by securing a 3-0 lead before Madonna stormed back to take a narrow 6-5 edge. Again, Cameron took control of the set and with the Dragons clinging to a 15-13 lead, Hall stepped behind the service line and reeled off four straight points to put her squad in front by a 19-13 count. Again, Meintel followed Hall’s lead with a five-point streak to get the Dragons to the match point, which led to a Callie O’Neil kill to wrap up the second set for Cameron.

With the Blue Dons facing a 2-0 hole in the third set, they remained calm and put together a strong team effort led by Halle Payne, who served Madonna to an early 3-0 edge. Not only did the Dons take the early lead, but they never allowed the Dragons to hold a lead in the third set. As Madonna held a one-point lead, Payton Lis began serving for the Dons and put a charge into her team with a six-point serving streak to give the visitors a 16-10 advantage. Then, Madonna’s Carly Dowick took over serving duties with a 21-18 edge and went on a four-point run to extend the match to a fourth set.

In the final set, both teams struggled with serving and could not seem to get the ball to land in play. That was until a familiar face began serving for Cameron, as Hall brought her team back from a 12-10 deficit to take a 14-12 lead and the Dragons never looked back as they went on to win the set and the match.

“Our girls work really well together,” Timmins said. “They practice six days a week and when they make simple mistakes, they know what they are doing wrong. Sometimes when they are on the court they just overthink at times.”

Hall paced the Dragons with five aces and 13 points in the victory, while Meintel followed with nine points, five aces and 12 kills. Teammate Erica Berardi tallied five kills, four assists and five points, O’Neil turned in five kills and four points and Jordyn Hughes supplied seven points and four kills for Cameron.

“Cameron always plays really well and they always move the ball well,” Madonna coach Jennifer Ewusiak said. “That is a really good team that we played.

“We did have some girls out of position because we were missing two starters, but our girls get along really well and they usually play well together. They just never really got into a rhythm tonight (Tuesday).”

Andrea Alimario led the Dons with seven kills and 24 digs, followed by Payne who dished out nine assists, six aces and 13 digs. Carli Dowiak provided 35 digs for the visitors, Karli Sutton garnered 21 digs, Keara Kush, Addie Backel and Gia Riccadonna each produced 13 digs, while Jules Simon finished with nine digs and Lis added seven digs for Madonna.

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