Patriots bounce back against Knights

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The Patriots had their confidence shaken last week in a loss to the Franklin Monroe Jets. But they got this week off to a good start with a win in straight sets over the Northeastern Knights. Although the win was in straight sets, the Knights had some good runs in the second and third sets that the Patriots had to fend off. Scores were 25-9, 25-18 and 25-22.

One of the advantages for the Patriots was their service aces. They had a couple of good runs that were stoked by the strong serving of the back line. In the first set the Patriots opened a commanding lead with Lucie Morris serving. She sparked a 9-0 run and during that span she had 3 service aces. At the end of the run the score was 16-3 and Northeastern never recovered. Meghan Downing had some decisive kills in this set.

“Tonight we served well,” said Tri-Village coach Chris Brewer. “Abbi Lipps and Morris both served really well. They both ran off big strings of points for us which really helped. Lipps was all over the place on defense – she worked hard tonight.”

In the second set a resolute Northeastern team returned to the net. The score was tied five times during this set. With the score tied 17-17, Molly Scantland put together an impressive string of serves. She had 5 service aces during the run that put the Patriots up for good, including three in a row. Northeastern only managed a single point during the final run – Maria Petry and Meghan Downing also had kills to put the Knights away.

In the last set the Patriots raced out to a 9-1 lead, it looked like they would run away with it. But the Knights put together a nice run of their own and tied the score and actually had the lead at one point 14-15. The Patriots gathered themselves and surged ahead. Again senior Maddie Downing made some big plays to put the Patriots over the top in the closest set of the night 25-22.

“We bounced back pretty good from our last match against Franklin Monroe,” Brewer noted. “I was really concerned about how we would recover from the loss. Then we got hit by the injury bug in this match. Jadyn Sharp was the girl that was injured. But we had some girls step it up in the back row.”

“But as a team it was good to come back and get that win and get our confidence back,” said Coach Brewer. “We played them really well in the first game, but I knew they were a better team and they came back in the next two. Meghan Downing had a bunch of kills in the first game. Maddie Downing picked us up in the second and third game.”

The Patriots finish out the season with a critical conference game against Arcanum and Senior Night against TVS.

Madi Mead (L) and Maddie Downing (R) go up for a block in the Lady Patriots 3-0 non-conference win over the Northeastern Lady Knights.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_L-Madi-Mead-R-Maddie-Downing.jpgMadi Mead (L) and Maddie Downing (R) go up for a block in the Lady Patriots 3-0 non-conference win over the Northeastern Lady Knights.

Meghan Downing goes for a kill in the Lady Patriots 3-0 win over Northeastern.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Meghan-Downing-6.jpgMeghan Downing goes for a kill in the Lady Patriots 3-0 win over Northeastern.

https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_DSC_6729-47769.jpg

https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_DSC_6731-47774.jpg

Jadyn Sharp goes for a dig for the Lady Patriots in win over the Northeastern Knights.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Jadyn-Sharp.jpgJadyn Sharp goes for a dig for the Lady Patriots in win over the Northeastern Knights.

By J. Chris Tilton

DarkeCountyMedia.com

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