Lady Saint season ends at Pen. Catholic

Staff

Published Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Photo by Andrew Giermak

Nansemond-Suffolk’s Kela Bogaard goes up for a spike during NSA’s conference tournament match on Tuesday at Peninsula Catholic. PC won in three games 25-16, 25-20, 25-19.

NEWPORT NEWS – Nansemond-Suffolk’s girls volleyball season came to a close Tuesday evening in the first round of the Tidewater Conference Tournament as No. 4 Peninsula Catholic swept the No. 5 Lady Saints, 25-16, 25-20, 25-19.

The Lady Saints battled against a hard-serving, consistent side in Peninsula Catholic, but also battled a key injury which forced the Lady Saints into playing a way they hadn’t played all season long.

Early in game two, senior Mary Kate Fowler left the match with an injury and she was unable to return. Fowler had been a key hitter for the Lady Saints throughout the season. Just as important as the direct loss of Fowler’s ability was the Lady Saints having to cobble together a rotation without Fowler.

“We had to change our lineup completely,” said NSA head coach Elizabeth Stello.

In the final game, Stello put Jaclyn Ramsey in the libero, or back-line specialist, position.

“We hardly ever use a libero and you could see it took some getting used to.”

The Lady Saints had only one rotation violation in the match, but having a different rotation suddenly in an all-or-nothing tournament match was a change no coach would want.

The home-standing Lady Knights didn’t help either. Peninsula Catholic powered in 11 aces in the opening game. From a 9-2 PC lead early on, NSA fought back to within an 11-10 PC lead. From there, eight aces in a 13-1 PC run turned game one into an easy win.

The Lady Saints did a better job digging PC’s serves the rest of the way as PC wound up with 16 aces for the match, but the Lady Knights were still able to close out games two and three by taking the lead late in the games.

In game two, NSA had a 17-14 lead before PC tied the game at 19 and kept going to allow NSA only one point the rest of the way. PC’s consistent hitting kept NSA digging and diving, which kept many rallies going, but didn’t do enough to stop Peninsula Catholic. The final set was tied at 16, but NSA couldn’t move in front and another run by PC took control in the final few points.

Mackenzie Westfall finished with 21 assists for NSA (12-11). Tori Dail led the Lady Saints with eight kills. Ramsey and Alyssa Grigg had five digs each.

In the TCIS Boys Volleyball Tournament, No. 4 Bishop Sullivan defeated visiting No. 5 Nansemond-Suffolk in four games, 22-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-15.

In Williamsburg, in the TCIS Field Hockey Tournament, No. 3 Walsingham defeated No. 6 NSA 2-1 in overtime.

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