NSA through to TCIS semifinals
Published 9:06 pm Wednesday, October 29, 2014
The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ volleyball team served up a straight-sets defeat to visiting Norfolk Christian School in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on Tuesday evening.
The Lady Saints won 25-10, 25-11, 25-18.
“They did good,” NSA coach Robyn Ross said of her players. “Everybody got to play tonight, which was good, and everybody made a positive impact when they were in.”
Leading the way on offense for the Lady Saints were senior middle blockers Caylin Harris and Lizzy Fowler, who had 14 and 13 kills, respectively.
“We served really well tonight — we had 10 aces — and we were working on serving certain zones and certain people, and so that led to us getting a lot of free balls sent back over the net and letting us run our offense, so Lizzy and Caylin had a great night,” Ross said.
NSA got strong serving from senior setter Brooks Gillerlain and sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Knierbein.
“We won 12 points off of Brooks’ serve and 10 off of Lindsay’s serve, and Lindsay only served 12 times, and so we scored a point 83 percent of the time when Lindsay was back there serving,” Ross said.
Gillerlain also contributed 39 assists, three aces and 10 digs.
The coach specifically highlighted sophomore outside hitter Livi Bono for playing great defense. Bono produced 14 digs, along with senior libero Bridget Murphy. Bono, who also had seven kills, played all the way around during the final game, “and she did really well,” Ross said.
The remainder of the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools tournament will be held at Norfolk Christian School’s Upper School Campus.
Nansemond-Suffolk (17-8) will face Hampton Roads Academy on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.