Patriots’ Comeback Attempt Falls Short
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WHEELING -- Despite losing the first two sets of the night, the Wheeling Park volleyball team pushed back against the visiting University Hawks, ultimately falling in four sets. The Hawks (4-3) defeated the Patriots (4-9) in four sets, 25-23, 25-11, 23-25, 25-17.
The first set of the night was a nail-biter. Park opened up an early 6-3 lead but the teams played to a 13-13 tie. From there, the competitors bounced back and forth, deadlocking all the way until the score was 22-22. University eventually went up 24-22 but lost serve to the Patriots. A serving error by Park, however, gave the Hawks the 25-23 win.
After an exciting first set, Park came out flat in the second. The Hawks built and ealy 14-6 lead and never looked back, winning 25-11.
"The hope is that if the first set is tight, we're able to just tweak a couple of things and persevere into the second and third sets," Park coach Samantha Gentle said. "That's the hope but the second set was a tough one."
A lousy second set did not get the Patriots down, however, and Park fought University tooth and nail in set three. The Hawks built up a 16-11 lead but Park roared back to tie the game at 19-19.
"It was just grit," Gentle said. "We kept thinking if we could cut into their lead a little bit at a time we would be able to overcome it."
University took a slight 22-20 lead in the late stages, but Park rallied behind the serving of Jillian Huffman to win 25-23.
"I told them to just be aggressive to the ball," Gentle said. "University was not doing anything that we could not handle, so we needed to be aggressive to the ball, be fast and get to where we needed to go. We have a talented team, we just need things to start coming together for us."
Just like earlier in the match, Park followed up an exciting, close set with an underwhelming performance. In set four, University quickly built a five-point lead that soon swelled to seven and then nine points as the Hawks won 25-17.
"The third set we came back and won, which was great, so I thought going into the fourth set we should've done better than we did," Gentle said.
One of Park's standout players on the night was junior Olivia Albrecht, who led the team with 14 kills.
"She's one of our two biggest threats," Gentle said. "When she gets a hold of the ball, teams aren't going to be able to stop her. We're very excited about her."
Makara Ferguson finished second on the team with seven kills to go along with five digs. Caylin Angel (24), Emily Braden (15) and Paige Jasko (eight) led the way in digs.
The Patriots will remain home next time out and host Dover and Morgantown in a tri-match next Tuesday.